His Name Is Will
by Shadowgirl122
Summary: Tessa was Immortal. Tessa was different. Tessa was special. Tessa was being hunted. Just like all of the other warlocks that were living in London. Tessa and her mother were able to hide until the day, Tessa's mother was murdered, leaving Tessa alone to face the world that wanted nothing less than to kill her. But she left her with two things; The Black Book and a name.. Will.
1. Prologue

Prologue

I walked down the busy streets of London, taking opportunity of the shadow provided by the trees, lining the side of the street that wasn't covered by shops, by staying as much hidden in them as possible. No one really seemed to notice me going by, but I pulled the hood further over my face anyway, just as a precaution.

It was becoming dangerous walking alone on the streets day by day. And even more than that, trying to hide all the time was the most frustrating thing ever.  
I shook my head at myself disapprovingly, I knew it was all for my own good. Well, who didn't want to stay _alive_?

Moving through the bustling crowd patiently, swiftly, in a while I found myself standing in front of the shop I had come here for. It was a well built, stable shop. It was not bigger than my room back at our small home, but even worse, it looked so worn out and destroyed. Well, age does that to everything, doesn't it?

I walked into the small shop, my steps would have sounded abnormally quiet to anyone passing by too closely. There was no hustle around this one particular shop, nor was anyone going inside except for me.

I pushed aside the curtains lightly (There wasn't even a door at the entrance), peering inside the small room. It was just as worn out from the inside as it was from the outside. Every time I came here, I couldn't help the chills.

Nor could I help the chills every time I saw the woman that was now standing behind a large table, which covered half the space in the room, in the middle of the room.

She was leaning over the table, her long black hair effortlessly pulled back into a careless braid, that didn't keep the hair back anyway. If I got a chance to steal anything from this woman, I would steal her hair. And maybe her beautiful green, cat like eyes too.

She was looking closely into an awfully thick book, a dozen candles placed around the table. I knew very well that she didn't like interruption when she was doing something like this, but it wasn't like I could care less.

I cleared my throat, in order to get her attention, but she just waved her hand, telling me to come inside.  
"I'm old enough to sense you're here, even if you don't make a sound" Catarina said, at last looking up from the book at me.

What she said would've sounded terribly weird to anyone else, because Catarina was all beautiful, with no wrinkles on her face or dark circles under her eyes. She was lean and slim, her body had the most perfect curves, and obviously, her hair was _totally_ black.

She hardly looked 18, yet she wasn't.

"When you keep staring at me" She said, "It creeps even my immortal soul out"

 _Immortal._ That's what she was. All Warlocks were.

"I'm sorry" I said quietly and moved inside the small room, "What spell are you trying now?"

"Theresa" Catarina smiled, the smile that would make anyone want to sleep with her in an instant, "Always curious. I like that about you."

Theresa. Only Catarina called me that. Normally, people called me Tessa. Not that many people knew me, still I preferred Tessa more. I tried to correct her sometimes, but she just seemed to like Theresa more. Typical, ancient-three-hundred-year-old woman.

"I'm just trying to pass my time. Trying to light all these quicker than I already can"-Which is 0.05 seconds for a dozen candles, why on earth did I know that?-" That's all we immortals can do with our useless lives" She sighed. "To what do I really owe the pleasure of your visit, Theresa?"

"I wanted the black book" I said as confidently as I could.

"Now, now. What does a little girl have to do with the black book?" She smiled, but it really wasn't a real one, "Those spells aren't something you can play with. Most of them are mild ones, but if anything goes wrong, everything goes wrong."

"I'm not a little girl. I'm 16." I sounded more offended than I actually was. I was used to her calling me _little_ _girl_ all the time, but I couldn't help saying that.

"Well, then you're a _very_ little girl for me" She chuckled, "But I'll give you the book. I guess I can trust you enough. But I need you to promise me to return the book as soon as you're done"

"Okay, I will." I said. She smiled at me again and then walked towards the large, worn out bookshelf which was pushed against the opposite wall. Even the way she walked was so elegant that no mortal could depict it.

Maybe I'd walk like that one day. A century or two later, I don't know how long it will take me to become like Catarina. How long it would take me to do the spells that Catarina did so easily like they were nothing. Or even if I could live that long...

Catarina tried to find the book for a while, and then pulled out a thick book, with a black leather covering. Its pages were yellowed, age did that. She patted the book to shake off the dust and then came and stood in front of me. She handed me the book gently, and I held it with the same gentleness. This was more precious than anything else.

She didn't look much older than me, but we still had a difference of almost two and a half centuries between us. I had known Catarina since I was 3, and since then I've seen myself grow while she still remained the same as she was 13 years ago.

She now smiled down at me.

"I know you can do most of these spells perfectly well, Theresa" I thought she meant to be encouraging.

"Not as well as you" I said, stating the fact. She frowned.

"Not now. But you can do better than me in much less time than it took me to master all of it." She then smiled again, "You know you're special"

 _Special._ Everyone kept calling me that. I couldn't help the frustration.

"Blood doesn't matter. It's one's ability that matters." My voice was flat. I was good at hiding the jealousy, but I couldn't say that Catarina didn't see it at all.

"You won't understand. Not yet." She then walked back behind the large table and rested her hands on the table, then looked at me again, "I hope you're being careful. And I hope you've been taking care of Elizabeth too."

I nodded. Of course I was. My mom was the only family I had.

"I can't believe how ruthlessly they're killing warlocks every day. It drives me crazy. It's almost every day I hear that a warlock was killed," There was genuine pain in her voice, "and every time, I'm scared for the people I love. For the one's I care about."

"I know" I sighed, because I did know. That was why all of us were hiding. Expecting danger around every corner was what we had to live with. I could feel the hilt of the dagger that was tugged under my cloak. It wasn't really that reassuring, the ones who died probably had these too.

My hands automatically moved to the necklace around my neck. It was made out of clockwork, shaped like an angel. It had been ticking since the last 5 decades, my mom had told me, without any batteries. I had loved the soft tick of the pendant around my neck when mom had given it to me, at 4. But it had stopped working after two years. I still wore it anyway, and I still reached out to touch it, to be reassured it was still there.  
"But most of all, Theresa" Catarina said now, still standing behind the table, "I want _you_ to be safe. Scratch that, every warlock on the planet wants you to be safe"

"They probably don't know about me" I couldn't decide if my saying _they_ instead of naming them was out of fear or anger.  
"They, dear Theresa, are _Shadowhunter_ s" Hearing their name made me shudder anyway, "They know everything."

"They _don't_ know about me, Catarina. If they did, they would've killed me already"

"Because you're a badass little warlock, and you can kick their asses-"

"Yeah, yeah. Say whatever you want. I know I can't do that" I smiled despite myself.

"You _can_ " Samantha was serious now, "You just still need to discover what's hidden inside you. You know that as well as me that you're _not_ _like_ _me._ Or any other warlock out there. You're different, you're better. And you've still got eternity to explore yourself. And you know I'm always here for you."

Sometimes I thought it was unfair that she was so nice to me and I was not.

But she made it look like the whole world was putting its trust _in_ me. It felt like she was handing over this responsibility to me that I wasn't ready for. Which made me feel tired. And angry. And sad.

"I think I should go, mom must be waiting" I tried to say as politely as I could without spitting.

"Yes, Theresa. You should." She smiled, "I'm _here_ for you." She repeated.

I just nodded, which was all the goodbye I could managed to offer her as I walked out of the small room. I knew people would instantly creep out if they saw me coming out of thin air, because Samantha's shop was warded. Invisible to mortal eyes. Only warlocks could see or enter it.

I went back to the shade of the trees and walked down the same street back to my house. It was one of the chilly afternoons that indicated winter wasn't very much far away. I was already wrapping my cloak tighter around my body.

I hadn't told Catarina.

I hadn't told her how mom, out of nowhere, wanted me to rush to Catarina and bring this book with me. She looked frantic, and panicked. I couldn't make sense out of anything, but I went anyway. Not telling Catarina about it was what mom had repeated almost a hundred times.

In a while, I was standing in front of my small house. It would've definitely looked too small to anyone else, but it seemed too big for just mom and me.

It was even darker now than before. And I wasn't looking at anything but the door to my house that was wide open.

Panic rushed through me and it was an effort to move my feet, but I ran as fast as I could, inside the house and stopped.  
"Mom!" I shouted, but there was no response. Mom was not here.

I jogged towards her room, panic rising with every step I took, holding the book tighter to my chest. I opened the door, expecting to see mom sitting on the bed, sewing new clothes for me. Or maybe cleaning stuff like she was always doing. Or maybe reading another one of her old books. Or she might be just looking at her old pictures. But what I saw wasn't something I had expected.

" _MOM!_ " It came out half as a yell, half as a sob.

My mother was sprawled over the bed, a dagger protruding from her chest, and everywhere I saw, there was blood. On the bed, on the floor, on _my_ _mother._ I shook my head, trying to shake off the image. Trying to wake myself up if I was dreaming.

I limped towards the bed, not sure I could stand anymore. Warlocks couldn't die this easily, they could heal. They had magic. But a dagger into the heart wasn't something anyone could heal.

My eyes were blurry with tears as I sat beside mom, not caring how bloody the mattress was. She was my only family, the only person I cared for. My hand reached ahead to cover hers, and I squeezed it tightly. I allowed myself to sob. And it was painful.

But I stopped when I heard her sigh. When I felt her hands move beneath mine. My eyes widened as I saw her eyes flutter weakly.

"Mom? Mom, listen to me." I said, as I touched her face lightly.

"Tessa... My baby" She smiled weakly, "I don't have... have enough time. Please... I-I want you closer to me"

I immediately hugged her, trying to learn how it felt. How I could still smell her familiar scent over the tang of blood. I knew she couldn't hug me back. I let out another sob.

"I'm s-so... Sorry" Mom breathed out.

"Shhh"

"No... Don't. I need to tell... you something." She coughed weakly and I held her even more tightly.

"You'll be fine" I sobbed, "I'm going to kill them. I'm going to kill them all."

"Don't... Don't let go of the black... Black book" She coughed again and I sobbed harder.

"I won't" I promised.

"Leave... Th-this place. Go.. Somewhere safe" Her voice was more faded now.

"I will." I said quietly.

"Tessa" She said it so painfully that I moved away to look at her. She was pale, so pale that it justified there was almost no blood left in her. No mortal would've been alive till now. But now her chest was heaving unevenly too, her lungs struggling to get more oxygen.

I wasn't ready to let go of her yet. _I_ _wasn't_ _ready._

"His.. " Mom said breathlessly, "His name... Is Will" and then she smiled weakly at me as her chest stopped heaving and her eyes closed. Her lips were still smiling when her soul left her body. I held the corpse of my mother tightly, and I wasn't sure when I was letting go of her.

I pulled the dagger out of her chest and let it fall down on the floor. Then I kissed her forehead and stood up. The book was still tucked in my cloak. The dagger still where it was. My hands reached over to the clockwork angel around my throat, but it still wasn't ticking.

I let myself fall down on the cold floor, and curl up into the corner of the room. Even then, her last words kept echoing in my mind, and I had no idea why.

 _His_ _name_ _is_ _Will._


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I was limping down the road, and it was dark. I don't think I had ever been out so late at night. But I didn't care. _Didn't_ care if someone came out here and murdered me. Didn't care if I was thirsty, or if I was walking barefooted down the road, and if my feet were probably bleeding. My mother was dead. _Dead._ And now there was nothing left to spend my probably-eternity for.

But it was a reflex when I stopped as I saw a shadow on the end of the deserted street.

I had to squeeze my swelled eyes to see it clearly, but it was impossible. The thing moved as if it didn't need to step. As if the air was carrying it on its own. And undoubtedly, the shadow was growing bigger and bigger with every passing second.

I gulped in, and my heart was thundering in my chest. So this was it. I could feel death coming nearer to me with every moment. This was how Tessa Gray was going to die; eaten by a creature she would never live to warn the rest of the warlocks about. Not in a war, trying to save the warlocks against these creatures who were probably lead by the shadowhunters. Not fighting for my kind. This was Tessa's end. No one would know who she was. It won't matter if the blood running in her veins was different.

 _Special._ It would all go to hell.

I shifted uneasily, standing still where I was, but never moving away. Never running. It wasn't like I would be able to run with these feet anyway. _This_ would be my end. I won't even be able to fight the creature for my life. I'll surrender.

Closer. More closer.

My hands were shaking now. Would he have tendons? And would it hurt when he'll tear my head apart with his mouth? Would he do it quick, or would he... would he take his time?

The creature was probably able to see me clearly. It felt like it's shoulders were shaking, like it was _laughing._ He must've expected me to fight too, not serve myself on a gold platter to him. But I couldn't bring myself to fight. Couldn't bring myself to want to stay alive.

The creature's shape was not different from a human. Now he was close enough, we had a difference of just ten feet between us. Then he moved just a step ahead, so that now he was standing under the street light, the light illuminating his face.

He _wasn't_ something I had ever seen before.

The creature's ears were long and pointed. But not like the faeries, even more longer. His pointed hair was sticking out like they were needles. And his face... Was as pale as a ghost's. Which made his scarlet colored eyes even more deadly. And he had tendons sticking out of both the corners of his mouth.

His fingers were long, his nails pointed. He just stood there for a while, watching me, maybe waiting for me to run away. When I didn't move, he cocked his head and then his eyes raked over my body, mostly my bloody cloak, from head to toe.

Then his lips pulled back in a vicious grin revealing the rest of his pointed teeth.

I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted blood.

"You're a disappointment, Tessa Gray" The creature spoke, and his voice was like nothing I had heard before. It was alone a promise of a painful death, "I thought it'd be hard to get a hold of you. But here you are."

I still stood there, staring at the creature that was probably going to kill me in a while.

"How do you know me?" I said as steadily as possible, but still my voice trembled and I _hated_ it.

"Nor did I expect you to ask the wrong questions." The creature actually rolled his eyes that were the color of blood, "Who doesn't know you, Tessa? Do I need to tell you how _precious_ you are?" He spat the word 'precious' like it was poison in his mouth.

"But, you're wrong if you think you're anything more than an experiment" He snarled, "and that doesn't stop you from being the person that could one day become the world's most powerful warlock ever" _If_ _I_ _was_ _even_ _a_ _warlock._

"If you want to kill me," I said quietly, "then what are you waiting for?"

"Aren't you going to deny any of the things I said? Don't you think convincing me you're not what I think will save your life?" He smirked.

I walked five steps ahead, towards him and then stopped. Then I smiled. _Smiled._

" _N_ o" I said, "I'm not going to deny anything because it's true. And you better kill me now, because if you don't, I'm probably going to hunt down each and every one of you like my life depends on it."

"Seems like you don't really like your life." His expression didn't even change. I probably was a little girl ranting in front of him.

He bared his teeth at me. Then I didn't even know before he was standing right in front of me. His teeth bared and his breath stinging on my cheeks. Before I even knew, his hand struck my cheek, his nails digging into my flesh. I let out a cry as I felt warm blood trickle down my face, my neck.

Then in an instant, I got a blow in my stomach and I doubled over, falling back down on the road. Though I didn't lie down, I was still balancing myself on my weak arms.

"You're making it too easy, Gray" The creature frowned, "It's no fun like this."

"What... What are y-you?" I managed to blurt out. Speaking was so difficult, it burned my throat.

"Is that your last wish?" He grinned down at me, then he bent his knees so that he was face to face with me, "I'm a hybrid"

"Did.. You kill my mother?"

"I loved the sound of her screams." He smiled down at me, and that's when I lunged at him, aiming to screw his face but instead a small push of his hand sent me flying a good 5 feet away and landing hard on the floor. I screamed in pain.

"Better, that's better" He smirked, and then in an instant he was in front of me again, "It'd be fun if you scream like that the whole time I'm detaching your head from your body. Slowly."

Then he sat down in front of me. I was still trying to sit, balancing on my arms but it was becoming difficult with every second. He leaned over so that his face was inches away from mine. An instinct told me to spit in his face.

His nail came ahead and then stroked my neck, light but hard enough to make a large cut and the blood pouring out of the wound, down my neck. Then he took his finger to his mouth and _sucked_ atit. He ran his tongue over his nail, tasting my blood.

"God. You're delicious." Then he based his teeth so that his tendons were fully out, a roar came out of him as he stretched his arm back, ready to attack. I closed my eyes. This was death.

 _Leave_ _this_ _place._

Just when I was expecting his nails to dig into my neck, he shrieked and a loud thump made me open my eyes again. The thing was lying down on the floor, his legs bleeding, but the wound closed up in an instant, and he stood up again, ready to face the person who's back was to me.

I could've told even with my eyes closed that he was a Shadowhunter. He was tall, with dark brown hair blowing with the cold wind that was freezing me to death, the typical black shadowhunter gear wrapped around his body. And he had nothing but a shining blade in his hand. A seraph blade.

I almost thought he was my savior, my knight in shining armor. But then my eyes widened with realisation. _Shadowhunter._

"You shadowhunters _love_ to intrude, don't you?" The hybrid-creature snarled at the guy that was standing now in between me and the creature.

"Technically, _you_ are the one who intruded into my midnight meal," The shadowhunter said, his voice containing all the sarcasm a person could muster up, "I don't like it very much when people interrupt me while I'm eating hotdogs"

"That just confirms how delicious it would be when I fry your flesh and eat it with your blood sauce" I was 100% sure the creature wasn't kidding, "Now get out of my way"

"Where would be the fun in that?" The shadowhunter chuckled, which earned him a vicious snarl from the creature and then the creature was running towards him, his nails now elongated into sharp talons.

The shadowhunter probably had a death wish.

But then something happened. A spray appeared in the shadowhunter's hand out of nowhere, and just when the creature was a few feet away from him, he sprayed it on his face. As the liquid came into contact with the creature's face, it made a sound as if his skin was being fried. The creature snarled in pain and limped a few steps back, scratching at his face.

I knew what it was. It was Holy Water.

"Vampire." The shadowhunter carried a victorious smile in his voice. I still couldn't see his face.

Then, a plant appeared out of his gear in his hands, it was purple colored. I knew that as well. Wolfs bane.

I didn't know if it was brave or highly careless when he walked ahead towards the leaning, still snarling figure of the hybrid. He ran the wolfs bane over the creature's exposed arm and I could literally see steam as his skin burned. He screamed so loudly that I flinched.

The shadowhunter moved a few steps back, just as a precaution and threw the plant.

"Werewolf" The shadowhunter said, "It's quite interesting."

"Fuck yourself" The creature hissed.

"Well, you could've made your last words a little more pleasant you know" The shadowhunter chuckled and in a moment, the blade in his hand was dug into the creature's back, protruding from his chest.

The creature let out a scream that would've shook the world, and then he went down stone still and fell onto the ground, lifeless. The hybrid was dead.

And then the shadowhunter in front of me turned around, and at last I saw his face. His blue eyes, his jaw line, his cheekbones. How his dark hair fell over his face as an expression that I couldn't recognise crossed over his face.

Then he moved towards me and sat down in front of me, where I was still trying hard to balance myself.

"Are you hurt?" He asked flatly, as he moved his hands forward to examine the cut over my throat but I jerked away from his touch.

"No. It's just tomato sauce over my throat." I said.

The shadowhunter was trying hard not to laugh, as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Let me look at it. It might be deep."

"No. Thank you so much. I can take care of myself"

"Just like you were before I saved your life?"

 _Arrogant,_ _shadowhunter_ _bastard._

"Well, I didn't really want to be saved" I spat, "I'd rather have died then be at the mercy of a shadowhunter"

"Well, too late" He grinned, "You're still alive."

 _"_ And you'd leave if you want your blue eyes still in your sockets"

"If only you would've said these things to that hybrid" The shadowhunter rolled his eyes.

"Screw you." I smiled.

"Interesting" The shadowhunter grinned, "Now stop acting like a freaking kid and let me help you"

"I _don't_ need help" I said, but my head was spinning now. The shadowhunter's face blurred in front of me.

"Whoa" I felt his hand on the side of my face as he steadied me, "You're swaying"

"Go away." I meant to say it loudly but it came out as a whisper.

"Sleep. At least you would be a little less insufferable."

And then I faded into darkness. 


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I'm sorry."

"Leave this Place."

"Go somewhere safe."

"His name is Will."

I woke up to the sun shining bright through a large open window. My head ached badly; it was as if someone was piercing needles in my skull. I blinked to see clearly, and then I felt a hard surface under me. I was lying on the floor, and there was a soft, black piece of cloth under my head.

My body ached everywhere, but I managed to bring myself to _sit_ at least. So I propped myself on my hands and sat down, wincing at the pain.

"Welcome back" I heard a voice behind me, and I jerked my head back just to see the shadowhunter guy standing in the doorway to the room, leaning against the frame. He was wearing a grey T shirt now, and I realised the cloth under my head was his gear jacket.

"Why are you still here?" I said, and then I moved my hands towards my throat. It was bandaged. And then towards my cheeks. I could feel the wounds, but there was no blood, "Did... Did you do this?"

"No. Your fairy Godmother came and healed you."

"Shut up" I said, rolling my eyes, "I _told_ you I didn't. Need. Your. Help."

"You passed out. You could've bled to death."

"Who cares?"

"We're not arguing over this again."

"If you go away, we won't have to. Just leave me _alone._ " I nearly pleaded.

"We can make a deal." He smirked.

"What?"

"You can answer some of my questions, and you will never see my face again."

"Ohh, I'd do anything for the blessing." I grinned weakly.

"Actually, _watching_ my beautiful face is a blessing. You'd miss it." He smirked.

I rolled my eyes, he actually was beautiful. Not that I was, ever in a million years, going to admit it. I shifted and then winced as I tried to lean myself against the wall. I bit my lip as I tried to keep myself from wincing again. When I looked up again, he was looking at me thoughtfully, no amusement on his face.

"Let's add another thing to the deal. You're going to eat something." He said flatly.

"Let's add another thing to the deal. You cannot _fuss_ over me"

"I'm not fussing. You can hardly sit. If I leave you like that, I'm breaking the accords"

" _Accord_ _s_ " I murmured, rolling my eyes.

He then walked inside, and I realised he already had breakfast in his hands. The smell of bread reached my nostrils and I could've died to eat that right now. He sat the tray in front of me, it had fresh bread and jam on it.

"Eat." He said.

"Don't command me."

"I'm not."

I gave up and then held the bread, biting it as slowly as I could when all I wanted was to inhale it whole. When I looked up, I saw him looking at me, a smile on his face.

"What are you smiling at?"

"You look adorable with that bread."

"Sorry. I'm not flattered."

"Thought so." He grinned.

"Ask me the questions you want to. Get this over with, Shadowhunter." I said flatly.

" _Shadowhunter?_ " He smirked, and then sat right in front of me, keeping a respectable distance, "What should I call you then?"

"I'm a warlock." I said quietly.

"Quit with the pretending, Gray" I was actually surprised he knew my name. How? Was he listening to that hybrid speaking last night the whole time? Though I didn't show any of it, "I know you're not just a warlock"

"I _am_ a warlock." I hissed, "I can do magic, I can do spells. What else should I be?"

"Something that's born from a shadowhunter and a higher demon."

I stopped eating. I was stone still.

"How... How do you know about my mother?" I couldn't stop my eyes filling as I said it. _Mother._

"I know about everything" He said, his tone just a little soft now, "And I know that you're not just a warlock. The offspring of a demon and a shadowhunter is still born, but your mother didn't know she had shadowhunter blood until after she had you. Your mother killed the demon, who was your father, when you were three and then raised you up."

I blinked.

"Isn't that true, Tessa?"

I gulped in.

"Yes. Yes it is." It was a whisper. _Dammit._

He stayed still for a minute, and so did I, observing me as I tried to gather myself up.

"I'm sorry. About your mother."

"I don't need your useless sympathy!" I hissed so painfully it made the tears roll down my cheeks, "All you people can do is stalk others while they're being murdered by species. Shadowhunters are supposed to _protect_ us, but all you do is watch while we die. Maybe you're even happy about it!"

The shadowhunter's eyes were widened now, and he stared at me dumbstruck like I had spelled his mouth to stay shut. Sometimes I wished I could.

"It's not like that" He said quietly.

"Oh really? Because we feel like you people are behind it. And if that's so, I don't even want to talk to you. I don't-"

"It's _not_ _like_ _tha_ _t_ " He said again, a bit louder, "Things aren't as easy as you think, okay? We know how many warlocks have been dying. We have been trying to hunt these species down, but we didn't know shit about them and all we had to start on were instincts." He then clenched his jaw, "And unless you don't know that the Shadowhunters are the government and they _protect_ the downworlders, not kill them, you won't blame us for something like that"

Of course I knew what the Shadowhunters did. They were supposed to fight demons, and protect the humans against evil. The shadowhunters were just human, the exception being that they had angel blood in them, which gave them the ability to bear powerful runes that gave them different supernatural abilities. But the downworlders included Vampires, Werewolves, Faeries and Warlocks, who had demon blood in them.

"How... How did you find me last night?"

"I'd come to your house when your mother died." He said quietly, "Where you were wasn't far away from there. It was because of you that I came to know so much about the creature."

"That he's a hybrid of vampires and werewolves?"

"Yes. And they're deadly enough to kill you with a single bite. On the other hand, all you did was _let him kill you._ "

"Are the questions over?"

"Do you have any idea why the hybrid would want to kill _you_ particularly?"

"Everyone keeps calling me special because of my blood. They say that I am capable of doing much more things than I already do. While all I've done my whole life is let them down. I don't even know _what_ I am"

He waited for a while, staring at the floor before he asked, "How old are you?"

I considered telling him, and why the hell should I? But that would start another stupid argument so I said, "16."

He smiled at me and I looked away.

"How old are you?" I said.

"17." He said and then stood up. Then he offered me a hand. I ignored it.

"What is even your name?" I asked.

"My name doesn't matter."

"It does."

"Duh. Fine." He rolled his eyes, "I'm William Herondale"

I wasn't sure I was breathing.

"Will..." His name was unnervingly soft on my lips.

"Yeah. You can call me that." He grinned.

I shook my head, more at myself than him.

"You aren't leaving me alone, are you?" I said.

"Not after knowing there are at least a dozen hybrids trying to kill you."

"Then what? Are you going to stay with me and be my knight in shining armor?"

"As much as that would be romantic," William grinned, "No. I would take you to the institute."

"I'm not going to the institute."

"It's the safest there. No hybrids can enter the Institute."

"I don't care."

"Would you stop arguing _for onc_ e? It's your life we're discussing here."

" _Then don't._ "

"Tessa." He said quietly and I looked away again. His voice was intoxicating.

 _Leave this place. Go somewhere safe._

If I don't go with him, would I be leaving behind my mother's last words? And when she took his name, did mom mean he's danger, or he's protection?

"Okay." I said, and his eyes nearly popped out with surprise.

"That means... You're going with me?"

"Yeah." I frowned, "But I would leave as soon as I want to."

"We'd see about that. Rest for a while, and then we'll go."

"I don't want to rest." I gulped in painfully, "I... want to burry my mother."

He smiled at me sympathetically.  
"I already did."

I could've actually hugged him at the moment.

"Then I want to see her grave."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I found the Black Book by my side when I woke up. I had been hiding it under my cloak before I passed out last night, but William did take care of it. I was panicked for a moment before I saw it there beside me, and I practically sighed. Then I tugged it safely under my cloak again, and took William's hand at last after denying it a hundred times and failing to get up by myself.

William smiled at me, knowing he had clearly won and then we walked out of the small room that I realised was an old abandoned building by the side of the street.

"Are you sure you don't want to rest?" He said, walking beside me on the street, looking ahead, "I don't want you passing out again. You're heavy."

"I'm not the one forcing you to stay with me." I smirked.

"I'm going to drop this right here. Arguing makes me feel hungry." I couldn't help smiling at that.

"Where... Where did you burry her?" I asked quietly.

"In the backyard of your house." He smiled sympathetically.

"Shadowhunters don't bury their dead, do they?" I asked, willing the tears to stay back.

William shook his head.  
"No. We don't. We burn our dead and their ashes are used to build the bone city."

"But your mother wasn't a proper shadowhunter" He went on after a pause, "She didn't get her first rune, and the ceremony wasn't performed either. She just had Angel blood in her, which made the... you successful"

I gulped in. All of this was just too much. The hybrid's words echoed in my mind.

 _You're nothing more than an experiment._

"Don't think that." William's voice brought me back, "How you were... born doesn't describe who you are."

"Really?" I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah" He said, "Although I'm not sure if your heart is that of a demon or..."

"Shut up." I chuckled, "My heart is pure."

"How would I know?" He smirked, "All you've done since I met you is threaten my eyes or my life."

I grinned and he grinned back.

In a while we were standing in front if my house and I realised that William was trying to brighten my mood. But I could practically see the house surrounded by quiet darkness, which seemed to swallow me in as well. I was standing there still, not daring to take even a step ahead.

"Will you be okay?" William asked me.

"No." I admitted.

William took my hand in his and gently held on to it.

"No matter how much you hate me" He smiled, "This always helps."

"I'm fine." I said, taking my hand out of his. William flashed me a look that said _liar._

But I did stay beside him, as if I was willing the energy from him into my legs so that I could stand. My mother, who had raised me my whole life, who had always shielded me from every danger, who had never made me feel the absence of a father. She was _dead._ And now I pretty much had no one who would do that for me. I was alone to face the world. The cruel, cruel world.

I didn't realise that tears were running down my cheeks until I reached the backyard, William still close beside me. From the corner of my eye, I could see him looking worriedly at me. I looked ahead, and I saw the grave. The only indication was that it was a little bit raised, uneven as related to the rest of the ground. There were some flowers over the grave, plucked from the plants that were around the corners of the backyard.

I walked ahead until I was standing in front of the grave, and William didn't follow me. He stayed back. I sat down in front of the grave and saw my tears fall onto the grave, one by one. I placed a hand over the soil, trying to just catch anything, anything that would tell my mother was buried here. I could still remember her faint smell, how I held her for the last time.

"I'm sorry." I said to my mother, but she couldn't hear it. I sobbed, and then sobbed again and sobbed until I felt William's hand on my shoulder.

"Your mother wouldn't want this, Tessa." He said quietly. I rubbed my wet face to wipe away the tears and then weakly stood up.

"I need to change and get some clothes with me." My voice came out hoarse.

"Okay." He said, and then we walked into my house. I tried my best not to notice anything as I went into my room. William stayed out, leaning against one of the tables as I changed into a new dress and a clean dark cloak. I wore my long boots instead of the muddy ones and threw the bloodstained clothes away. I wasn't sure whose blood was more on them, mine or my mother's?

I took out a small trunk and quickly packed some dresses and cloaks in it. I tugged the Black Book in the corner of the trunk and then carried it out of the room.

William was still standing there, looking at an old picture of me on the wall. He smirked when I came out and pointed at the picture.

"You looked much more innocent when you were younger."

I rolled my eyes and then went to stand with him.

"You look good in this one." He said, pointing to another one in which a 6-year-old me was holding a burger in her hands.

"I bet that's because I have a burger in my hand" I couldn't help smirking.

"Food makes everything beautiful, Tessa" William grinned, "Shall we go now?" Will took the trunk from my hand, but I took it back.

"I can hold my stuff myself"

"Don't be stupid." He frowned, "You're still healing"

"I'm strong enough"

"Carrying this would be better than carrying you if you pass out again."

"It's not like I pass out all the time, you idiot."

"I don't know, but I will definitely look like an idiot if I let a girl carry a trunk while I walk barehanded."

"YOU'RE CRAZY." I gave up, shoving the bag over to him.

He grinned, "I love winning."

We walked out of the house then, and I looked at my house, observing it for the last time before we started down the street.

"Thank you" I said quietly.

"No, it's not that heavy-"

"Not for this, idiot" I rolled my eyes, "For everything. I'm sorry you had to waste your time on me."

"Don't say that." His voice was cold, "Saving your life was fun."

"So, you mean fighting badass hybrids is what you do for fun?"

"Mostly" He grinned and I rolled my eyes. I bet he loved to bluff.

"Tell me about the institute." I said, not wanting silence at the moment, "What should I expect?"

"Nothing much. You'll see when you reach there." He smirked, "You're in for a lot of surprises."

"If I'm not wrong, Institutes are only for Shadowhunters." I said, "I'm sure I'm not welcome there."

"Well... yeah that could be a problem" He frowned, "Don't worry, I'll handle it."

"I don't get it, why are you getting into so much trouble for me? Leave me here and I'll probably become a stray wandering the streets. And if it reassures you, I'll try to stay alive as well."

"Ha. You're funny." He smirked and then looked ahead again. That's all he said for a while. I was having difficulty matching his pace, his strides were too long.

"I don't know why I'm doing this, either" He shrugged simply, "So it's no use asking me either."

"Ha. You're useless."

I grinned at him and he grinned back.

We walked and walked and walked. God knows how far the Institute was, and my feet were sore when I told him we should get a carriage, but he kept on saying we couldn't handle attention. I knew it was harder for him, walking while carrying the trunk and I insisted we could take turns carrying it but he just smirked and shook his head.

At last, I found myself standing in front of an old church building. By the time, I literally thought I was going to pass out. William looked really terrified when I told him so and he warned me not to pass out before I reach my room.

 _God._ I'll have my own room. Something about it felt too permanent.

The building was worn out and old, it really looked weird.

"Is _this_ where you live?" I frowned.

"It's glamoured, Tessa" He chuckled, "You'll see _where exactly_ I live once you go in"

Glamour was something that hid the actual thing, and showed something like an illusion instead of it. Only Shadowhunters could see through it.

I walked beside William inside the church aka institute. William took out a key and opened the front door to the building. I walked in and stood there for a while. There was a long hallway in front of me, and the lighting was so bright it hurt my eyes.

"Mom, I'm hungry can you-" A girl appeared from behind the hallway and stopped still as she saw me standing there.

"Can't you even wait for a second-" An older looking woman appeared from the other side of the hallway and stopped seeing me there as well.

"What is all this shouting about?" A man appeared from the front of the hall and did the same.

The three of them stared at me in unison for a while and then their gazes moved to Will.

"Tessa, don't mind them. The Institute is not always a circus." William said quietly.

"Did... You bring a girl home?" The girl came forward, "Aren't you too young to get married right now?"

"What-" William began.

"You could've asked us before you just... went ahead and married someone." The old woman said.

"Listen-"

"And God. She looks small too. What are we going to-" The man chimed in.

"LISTEN TO ME YOU IDIOTS!" William had to say it loud enough so that everyone fell silent for a while. Then the three of them broke into laughter. They laughed so hard I thought they weren't even breathing. I couldn't help smiling either, but when I looked at William, he was flushed.

"Oh, Willy. The satisfaction I get in teasing you is priceless." The young girl said between her laughs.

"Well," William cleared his throat, "I'm sorry you'll have to face these weirdoes a lot. Is that okay with you?"

"What did you call us?" The elder man said.

"Shush everyone!" The woman said at last, coming forward and standing in front of me.

"What's your name, Warlock?" She asked politely. I knew they could sense who I was.

"I'm... Tessa Gray" I smiled.

"Oh! Tessa, that's you?" The woman smiled even more brightly now, "I somehow guessed that. You give away those badass-warlock vibes."

"I'm Charlotte Branwell." She said, offering me her hand and I shook it.

"And I, Charlotte's husband, am Henry Branwell" The elder man smiled down at me as I shook his hand too.

"It's nice to meet you." I said as politely as I could.

"And that" Will said, motioning towards the girl that was now biting into her hotdog, "Is my sister, Cecily."

"It's not hard to tell" I chuckled while I waved back as she waved at me, never leaving her hotdog. He grinned.

"Are we done with the introductions? God, I'm starving!" William declared, "And I know Tessa is too."

I rolled my eyes.

"Yes. Come in now. We'll talk about all the stuff later." Henry said cheerfully as he led us all to a large dining hall. There was a large chandelier hanging over the white ceiling in the circular room. There was nothing but a dining table in the middle. I looked greedily at the table that was already covered with mouth watering food. And apparently, William noticed it too because he leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"You're not going to hesitate" He said, "Because I'm not either."

We both grinned.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

We did not hesitate.

As soon as I got to the table, I realised how _damn_ hungry I was, and I was trying so hard not to make inhuman sounds while eating the finger-licking delicious food. I had heard a thousand rumors around in the warlock community about shadowhunter food but right at the moment, I didn't give a shit. And I didn't feel alone because William was the same as I was. Walking for this long would make anyone hungry to death.

On the other hand, Cecily kept staring at me like I was a miracle, and Henry and Charlotte sat on the head of the table, smiling at us.

"The world is a better place with food." William said. He looked at his food like a lover would. I didn't even know I was grinning.

"I bet he's said things like that twice in a second since you met." Charlotte's voice almost seemed apologetic.

"You can't imagine." I chuckled.

"Don't say anything to food, people!" Cecily chimed in, and she even defensively covered her food with her arm.

"That's like my little sister." William winked at her.

"Will…" Henry said from the head of the table and all of our heads whipped towards him, "You do realise we have no idea what's going on, right? You owe us some series explanation."

Actual realisation flashed over his face as he nodded.

"Yeah. I totally forgot about it. Let's talk about it in the living room." The three of them nodded, obviously awaiting some information. Wanting to know why the hell was I even here.

The three of them walked ahead and Will fell back to match my pace, walking beside me.

"I'd be enormously grateful if you let me do the talking and keep the 'I wanted to die' stuff to yourself." William whispered.

"It's my mouth. I'll speak whatever I want."

"God, your mood swings." He rolled his eyes, "Then you'd probably find yourself homeless."

"I don't care."

"Please, Tessa. I _beg_ you."

I blinked and didn't even know I was nodding before I saw him smile genuinely. No. I couldn't lose _that_ easily.

In the living room, there was a large fireplace burning and I didn't realise until then that I was feeling cold. There were large sofas in the middle of the room, and the room was white painted. The floor was white as well.

Henry and Charlotte sat together on the double seated sofa, while William sat with Cecily on the triple one, leaving me no option but to sit beside William.

"We have a lot to catch on" Charlotte said, "Start from the start."

So he told them how the news of my mother's death had spread and reached him, so he went to investigate the murder. When he reached there, he hadn't found me, so he just investigated her and then buried her before going out. It was a coincidence that he found me on the road, facing the creature the shadowhunters had been looking for since so long.

"I hadn't been expecting a hybrid, actually" He said, as the three of the others' eyes were widened, "A hybrid of a vampire and a werewolf. He reacted to both holy water and wolfs bane."

"And how did you kill it?" Charlotte asked.

"My very own lovely seraph blade." William grinned.

"But... I thought Vampires couldn't breed." Cecily asked, frowning.

"They can't." Henry said, "The werewolves were probably _turned_ into vampires. Though, I don't know how they survived it, but this is the most likely answer to how they were made."

"Anyways" William moved on, "After that I brought Tessa here because she's in danger and needs protection. She has nowhere to live. I hope you have no problem with her staying here."

"Tessa" Henry turned to me, "I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure." I said, and William shifted beside me.

"Have you witnessed any ability in you that is unlike that of a warlock? Any supernatural ability that would define that you're not just a warlock?"

"No." I said confidently, "I can just do spells, and probably have immortality. I've experienced nothing else."

"Then the hybrids might have misunderstood while making you the main target" Charlotte said, "They might have thought you were a real danger to... whatever they're up to"

"We'll talk about the rest later" Henry cut in, "Tessa, you're allowed to live here for as long as you want. Or maybe, as long as you can suffer us." He grinned and I chuckled.

"Will. Would you show her to her room, please?" Charlotte said politely.

Will was practically beaming with happiness when he stood up and then said "Of course." Before he offered me his hand, and I was so lost in that smile on his lips that I absentmindedly gave my hand in his. I stood up and waved everyone goodbye before I followed him out of the living room where he then faced me while walking backwards. The sight was funny.

"It worked! Wow. You actually listened to me." He grinned.

"Yeah. It did." I tried to sound bored, "Though I think you still need to convince them I'm not your wife."

William laughed at that. I tried not to show how my ears just felt blessed by that sound.

We walked up the stairwell and then reached the second floor, where after walking down the hall, he stood in front of a room.

"I'll leave you here now, Tessa." William smiled, "I'm happy you're safe and sound. And you will be as long as you're here."

"Thank you" I said, "Even though I was practically dragged here by you, I'm thankful anyway"

"Don't be." He looked away, "My room is at the end of the hall. You can come if you want anything."

"You're not allowed to say that anymore. God, I'm fed up of that." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm never going to stop worrying, Tessa." He shrugged, "Brace yourself."

"You suck, William."

"Will."

"What?"

"Call me Will."

I stopped there for a while. Looking at the half smile on his lips, it was hypnotizing.

"Will." I said it a little too softly.

"Yes?" He said, amused and I rolled my eyes again.

"Goodbye." I said as I opened the door to the room that was going to be _my_ room.

"Until I see you again." Were Will's last words before he walked away. I watched him the whole time.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I was trying. Trying not to tremble, but failing. I told myself I wasn't afraid, I was Tessa. I couldn't be afraid, but the creature standing in front of me made it impossible. Its red eyes alone drilled through me as he stared, its tendons elongated.

"You are nothing more than an experiment." The creature hissed.

"Don't... don't come near me." I whimpered as the hybrid took a step towards me.

"Scared, Gray?" He grinned.

He slashed at me, making me cry out in pain as he scarred my face, my blood pouring out of my wounds. He slashed again, this time on the other side of my face and I couldn't do anything to stop it but scream as black started to surround my vision.

"Tessa" The soft voice broke through, returning some consciousness into me. My mother's.

"Mother?" I nearly sobbed, as I tried to move my bloody face around to see my mother. But she wasn't there.

"My little girl, Tessa." Mom said in a voice that stroked over my wounds, "Wake up."

"Where are you, mother?" I whispered.

"I'm with you." My mother's voice carried all the love she had ever given me, "I'm always with you."

"They're going to kill me." I whispered.

"They cannot." For a moment, I thought I felt a stroke over my hand, "You're going to stay with him. He won't let anything happen to you."

"Who?" I said, but her voice disappeared. Instead I heard her screams, my mother's screams. That was the thing that made me jerk upward with a scream still stuck in my throat.

 _It was just a dream. Nothing else. Just a really, really bad dream._

I was breathing rapidly and covered with sweat as I looked down to where my hands were clenching the white sheets on my bed. I let go and then worked to calm myself down, to slow down the thundering in my chest.

 _Stay with him. He won't let anything happen to you._

I got out of my bed, which had started to feel too hot in the cold weather. I slipped on my slippers and walked towards the window in my room that was letting in the cold breeze. Winter was almost here, I could feel it. I remembered how mother used to bring me new, warm dresses before the start of every winter.

I couldn't stop the tears as I crossed my arms against the cold breeze. I looked around the room that I hadn't gotten a chance to look at when I came in here because I pretty much just slammed into the bed and slept like the dead. Then this weird nightmare shook me out of sleep and I wasn't sure I could sleep anymore.

My mother's loss was something too difficult to bear. It felt like I was slowly, painfully breaking inside and I couldn't do anything about it.

I hadn't thought how Will was not less than a miracle.

After mother died, I had nowhere else to go; nowhere else I could be safe. If it wasn't for him, I would've been lying dead in a trash bin. I actually owed him more than a thank you.

I walked towards the trunk that was now placed beside the large wardrobe in my room, opposite to a large mirror. I took out the Black Book from the corner of the trunk and held it close to my chest as I walked back to my bed and laid there awake.

But it wasn't for long. The door to my room banged open and I was on my feet in a second, reaching for the dagger I had tugged under the mattress of my bed. I was ready in half a second, the Black Book tugged back under the pillow and dagger at the ready.

The guy entered the room, looking around as if I wasn't even there. He had black hair, and eyes just as dark as black. He had a frown on his pale face, and I thought he was just a bit shorter than Will.

"What the hell?" I said and at last he seemed to notice I was in the room he just barged in.

"Who are you?" He said, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Are you serious?" I laughed incredulously, "You're kidding me, right?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" The frown never left his face.

"I'm not telling you who I am unless you do." I crossed my arms, "Who knows what type of creatures is roaming around nowadays?"

He seemed quite offended by that because he frowned some more at that.

"I'm James Carstairs." He said, "I live in this institute, and this is my _home._ I guess that's enough for you to tell me who you are and what you're doing in the institute."

I felt like defending myself when he sounded like he was going to kick me out of here.

"I'm Tessa Gray." I said quietly, "I hope you've heard about me."

"Ohh..." James said thoughtfully, "Why won't we know about the famous Tessa Gray. Warlock but not quite Warlock."

"I am just a warlock."

"William brought you here, didn't he?"

"How do you know that?"

"What does it matter to you?"

"Have you ever heard the words 'being polite'?"

"Sorry. That word's not found in my dictionary." He grinned but even that was kinda unpleasant.

"I'd like to know why you barged into my room in the middle of the night." I rolled my eyes.

"I was looking for Church." He said, once again moving his eyes around the room but then they came back to me and he must have seen my confused expression because he did bother to elaborate, "He's my cat."

"Knocking is great, I thought you should know."

"God. Will did find something in you." He rolled his eyes again.

"I'm pretty sure your cat's not in here," I said, "Goodbye, James." I started to close the door in his face.

"I thought you knew what polite was." James grinned, "See you around, Tessa."

And then the door was closed and I sighed. This institute really _was_ a crazy weird place. The people were weird, the building was weird. I sighed again and went back to my bed, putting the knife back under the mattress and holding the book back to my chest as I lay down and stayed like that till sunlight filled my room.

"Hello. I'm Sophie." The woman that had just a while ago entered my room, holding a beautiful brown dress in her hands, said. She bowed a little as she laid the dress over the bed.

"I'm Tessa." I smiled.

"I know." She smiled back, "I'll be attending to your needs from now onwards."

"I can take care of myself, Sophie." I said, and then added, "I really don't mean to be rude."

"I know." She smiled apologetically, "But what master Will wants, happens here. And I am bound to it."

"What... Will isn't the head."

"He's not. He's just spoiled."

I couldn't help smirking at that.

"This dress was sent to you by Mrs. Branwell." Sophie said, "She knows you have your clothes, but she wanted you to wear this as a gift from her."

I looked at the dress again, and I wouldn't have denied it ever in the first place either. It was extremely beautiful, but Charlotte had been nothing but nice to me. And because of keeping me here, I owe them all. So, I smiled and told Sophie that I will wear it.

Sophie said that she would help me bath, and it felt awkward at once but then I stripped down my filthy dress that I hadn't taken off last night and sat in the tub that was in the bathroom attached to my room. Sophie scrubbed my back and everywhere until I was clean. I literally felt clean and I thanked Sophie a number of times while she helped me put on the brown dress. The bodice was so tight I had problem breathing, not that I complained. The dress seemed to flow over my body, and for a while I wasn't able to recognise myself. How the dress managed to hug the curves that I hadn't even known I had.

I had never been able to wear such luxurious clothes before. There were many reasons for that, the main one being that I and my mother always had to keep a low profile. And, well, we couldn't afford them anyway. But mother always loved to dress me, she used to braid my hair and then look at me and smile. Then tell me that I was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen. But it was always painful, watching her grow up, observing the wrinkles that were getting deeper with the passing time. Knowing I would never get to that, and I would still be like this when she would die.

But I hadn't thought it would be just so early.

Sophie pulled my hair into a braid which came till my waist; my hair was actually quite long. When she was done, she stepped back so that I could see myself.

"You're very beautiful, Ms. Gray." Sophie smiled.

"Thank you" I smiled, "And call me Tessa."

"Tessa it is, then."

And with that I followed Sophie out of my room, closing it shut behind me. I had safely tugged the Black Book back in my trunk and the dagger was still under my mattress. I hoped I didn't regret it.

 _No one can be trusted, Tessa. Not a single person._

My mother's words came into my mind. I knew I shouldn't trust these people, especially when the whole warlock community seemed to hate the Shadowhunters. Despise them even, maybe. What would they think when they would find out I was living with them? Would they despise me too? I moved my hands towards my clockwork angel, to check it was still there. Sometimes I thought it would miraculously start ticking, I hoped it would. But it never did.

"Mrs. Branwell told me I had to escort you to the dining hall for breakfast." Sophie had said softly before we left the room, and I had been so hungry I hadn't even thought twice before I nodded.

Now, I stood in the main entrance to the dining hall. Charlotte and Henry seemed much fresher, as compared to yesterday, sitting on the head of the table. Henry had a newspaper in his hand while he discussed something with Charlotte. Will sat beside Henry, paying no attention to him as he argued with James, who sat beside him, motioning towards the bread and egg in his plate. Cecily seemed lost in something, silent.

Will was the first to notice me as I entered, and he stopped mid sentence, his eyes a little wide as he called my name.

"Tessa."

And so every person on the table turned towards where I stood. Charlotte seemed to beam when she saw me in the dress.

"Good morning, Tessa." She smiled, "I hope you slept well."

"I did. Thank you." I said, as I followed Sophie towards the dining table where she pulled the chair beside Cecily back for me and I sat there.

Will's eyes followed me the whole time, and he smirked at me across the table when I sat down.

"Brown actually suits you." He said.

"Wow. I'm thankful you didn't compare me to a food item again." He laughed at that and James seemed to clear his throat beside him.

"Oh. I forgot. Tessa, this is Jem-"

"We've been introduced." I said as I put some bread in my plate.

"Oh really?" Henry said, "When was that?"

"Yesterday night." James said, frowning, "I was looking for Church. I didn't even know there was a warlock living in the institute."

"I bet he would have been extremely pleasant." Will chuckled and I couldn't help but join in. James seemed to roll his eyes.

"So... what. Are you people always living together? Like a family?" I said, looking around at all of them.

"Well, we're more than that. We've lived together our whole lives, and these are not less than my very own children to me." Henry seemed proud.

"Though Jem just came out of nowhere." Will said, which earned him an elbow nudge from James.

"Only Will is stupid enough not to be thankful for having a parabatai." This was the first thing Cecily had said since I entered the room.

"What.. You're parabatai?!" I said, narrowing my eyes at Will and James.

"Yeah, sadly." Will chuckled, "We've been since the last 5 years."

"Wow.. That's interesting." I said, "I've heard a lot about parabatais. The idea seems quite amazing."

"You seem to have a lot of knowledge about everything, Tessa." Charlotte said in her calm, polite voice, "Where did you get all the education from?"

"My mother.." I paused a little, "She made me study everything. From shadowhunters to vampires to werewolves to faeries. I've studied everything."

"Also, she was tutored by Magnus Bane." Will said, and my eyes popped wide open as he grinned at me.

"What?!" James said, choking on his drink, "Magnus Bane? You mean the high warlock of London?"

"How do you know that?" I asked, still open mouthed.

"Did you really under estimate me that much, Tessa?" Will was still smirking.

"Is that true, Tessa?" Charlotte seemed interested.

"Uh... Yes. That too. I was tutored by Magnus for 4 years."

"And Catarina Loss?" Will wasn't looking at me, just smirking at his food.

"She's just a friend of my mother's." I rolled my eyes, "How long have you been stalking me?"

"I believe the information he has is that which he got from the other people living around you. Or else we would've known about this stuff as well, that is if he was investigating on your subject." Charlotte smiled.

James muttered something which I couldn't hear, at which Will nudged him with his elbow and glared at him until he was quiet.

"We would be going for a meeting with the Clave today, we will be telling them everything about the hybrid. Hopefully, we'll find them all and ensure the other warlocks' protection." Charlotte smiled, "Tessa. The children would be here, and you can get to know each other, and the institute as well. Cecily would actually love a female company, except for Sophie of course"- at which Cecily smiled at me-" and boys. I hope you can behave yourselves a little."

"I always behave myself!" Will protested, "It's Jem who always-"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm _always_ the bad guy." Will grinned and James rolled his eyes.

"Jem. Please try to be polite." Henry rolled his eyes and I don't know why, but I felt like laughing.

After saying their goodbyes, Charlotte and Henry went out, promising to return by 6 in the afternoon. Leaving me alone with Cecily sitting beside me, and Will and James sitting opposite to me.

"Tessa!" Cecily exclaimed, as soon as Charlotte and Henry left the hall, "You can do magic, right?"


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"You do realise Charlotte's going to kill us, right?"

"Well, news flash. I don't care!" Cecily shouted over her shoulder as an answer to James. He simply answered with a frustrated sigh and an eye roll.

"Ce- Cecily you need to leave her hand. You're going to pull it out... or something." Will said, motioning towards Cecily's hand where she was holding mine, practically dragging me down the hall. Even James and Will had to jog to keep up with Cecily who was running down the hall, pulling me with her.

"You're disgusting, Will. Do you really thing women are that weak?"

"Jesus. How do you even manage to turn everything into feminism?"

At that, I laughed. Will flashed me a grin and then shook his head, making his hair bounce over his forehead. I hastily looked away, blinking.

"But you know we can't do magic in here, Cecily. Not that it's a law... but Charlotte won't like it, and we're also underage." Jem frowned again. Even now his voice was calm.

"If you shut up about it no one would know about it." She grinned.

"But it's dangerous!" Jem pushed, "She's only 16. Not even experienced, she could get us killed."

"Tessa is not like the other warlocks. She's special. I know she can do well." Cecily smirked at me, "Besides, I'm not going to force her to go all _Avada_ _Kadavra_ you idiot."

James seemed to turn quiet after that.

"But... No one asked Tessa if she wants to do it." Will looked at me apologetically.

"Oh." Cecily then stopped, "I'm so sorry, Tessa. I should've asked you."

"No. It's okay." I smiled, "I've only learned to do small, mild spells yet. If you're content with that."

"Of course! That is enough." Cecily grinned, "It's not like we have a warlock everyday within our reach."

"You're insane, Cecily." James rolled his eyes, yet again, "Just like your idiot brother."

"But you love us, don't you?" Cecily made a puppy face.

James just gave her a sarcastic smile before we turned the corner and stood in front of a large, old looking wooden door. The corridors seemed to be dark over here, not much illumination.

James reached into his pocket and took out a stone. That glowed.

"A witch light stone." I said, looking at the stone that seemed to illuminate the whole area in a bluish light.

"Have you seen one before?" Will asked softly, now standing beside me.

"No. Just seen in drawings. It looks amazing." I breathed, "It's like some fireflies trapped in a jar."

"You want to hold it?" Cecily said.

"I thought it only illuminates when it's in shadowhunter hands." I frowned.

"But you do have angel blood-" Will began.

"And demon blood." James interjected.

"It's okay. Just looking at it is fine." I smiled at Cecily who frowned at Jem.

"Open the door, Willy." Cecily smirked at Will, who smirked back at Cecily and took out a long pen like structure out of his pocket.

"That's a stele, right?" I said, pointing at the object he was holding in his hands.

"Exactly." Will smiled down at me, "Now we're going to use this to open the door."

"By making the opening rune." I grinned.

"Stop doing that." Cecily chuckled, "I'll keep forgetting you're not a shadowhunter."

Will went ahead and drew a pattern of some tangled lines onto the wooden door through the glowing tip of the stele. The pattern seemed to glow for a while after which the lock clicked and the door opened with a light thud.

"Yayy." Cecily exclaimed as she held my hand again and pulled me inside the room. The room was empty, totally.

"Hellooo.." Cecily purred, which made an echo sound throughout the room. She seemed to grin at herself.

"It echoes in here." She said, which was repeated as an echo again, "Jem sucks!"

"Shut up." Jem pouted.

"So, what do you want to show us, Tessa?" Will said, leaning against the wall and looking out of the only window in the room.

"Why don't you make Jem disappear?" Cecily chuckled and I couldn't help but join in as James did nothing but roll his eyes and frown.

"He's heavy. It would be kinda difficult." I said, and Cecily laughed.

"Well, I do have the candles with me." Cecily said, pulling out two large candles from inside her jacket, "Light 'em up."

"That's easy." Jem smirked.

"I believe you can do it, Jem." Will glared at him.

"Don't be a jerk, Jem." Cecily gave him a warning look and then went ahead, setting the candles in the middle of the room. She then stepped back until she was standing against the opposite wall. Jem went to stand beside her, but Will remained there beside me, smiling encouragingly at me.

I smirked back and then looked at the candles. I closed my eyes, whispered the spell, waved my hand a little. Then I opened my eyes to see a wide eyed Cecily and an I-am-too-bored-to-give-a-damn-faced Jem standing against the wall. And when I looked down, the candles were lit. They illuminated in a kind of purple light, and the area around me was surrounded in purple sparkles too. My magic always seemed to leave purple behind it.

"Wow. That's amazing, Tessa!" Cecily exclaimed, "Especially the purple thingy. I love purple."

"Well done." Will winked at me.

"That was easy." I waved them off, "I used to do that all the time."

"Then here's a challenge for you, Warlock." Jem pushed himself off the wall, "Why don't you clean the dust out of this room?"

"There's a chance I'd accidentally clean _you_ out with it." I grinned and he grinned back, which clearly seemed to say _all you can do is bluff._

"You don't have to, Tessa." Will said.

"You underestimate me too much, Will." I purred, but then closed my eyes in the silence that followed. I carefully recited the spell in a whisper, and then heard mild wind rustling throughout the room, and consequently Jem swearing. It went for a while after which I opened my eyes to see the room practically _shining_ in a purple shade, not even a speck of dust left.

"Okay. Wow." Will said, coming forward and patting my shoulder, "Now the servants would be scared we'll fire them or something."

"Tessa, you're my new superwoman now!" Cecily came and hugged me. I laughed as she pulled away.

James just seemed to stand there, examining the room. His eyes then met mine and he just said, "Fine. That's great, Tessa."

"Jealous?" Cecily mused.

"I'm a _shadowhunter._ I have no reason to be jealous of her."

"Well, at least you could use this skill when mom's yelling at you to clean your room." Will joined in and I chuckled.

"I'm hungry." Cecily chimed in, "Can we eat?"

"Always a good idea." Will gave Cecily a high-five and they laughed as Will swept a glance towards me as if to ask for permission.

"Yes." I smiled, "Doing magic makes me hungry."

"Really?" Sophie chuckled as she rushed around the kitchen, collecting the ingredients to make pancakes (suggested by Will). Meanwhile, Cecily was busy in telling her what I had done and she said _'You should've seen_ _Jem's_ _face'_ at which Sophie laughed.

"Now we expect you to be quiet about it, Sophie. I don't think Charlotte would be particularly happy to know that." Jem said flatly.

"Always am, Jem." She grinned, "Don't worry. She'll never know."

With that, the conversation between Sophie and Cecily continued. Jem just seemed too busy watching Cecily. All the time. I was paying attention to the way Jem looked at her, until I felt Will move closer beside me.

"Are you tired?" He said quietly, "We could go back, you can rest-"

"I'm okay." I smiled, "Not passing out again."

"I wouldn't mind carrying you _now._ I'm not starving and I'm quite powerful if you doubt it." He grinned.

"Are all the shadowhunters like this?" I said, changing the subject, "I mean, living together in institutes like you?"

"Well.." Will sighed, "Our parents, mine and Cecily's.. were... died when I was 6. We had no guardian, or protector at the moment. We were living in the Wales Institute previously with our parents and after this... we were transferred here to London Institute where Charlotte and Henry volunteered to look after us and have done so since then like our own parents. Mostly children under 18 or unmarried people live with their parents." He smiled, "Cecily even calls them mom and dad. She was four when they took us in."

"I'm sorry." I said quietly, not knowing what else to say.

"Don't be." He shook his head, "Now and then, I have to recite this story to a clave member or any other person. It doesn't feel bad anymore. Just like words coming out of me but making little sense."

"But Cecily was... so small." I looked over at her laughing with Sophie.

"Yeah." Will sighed, "She took a long time to recover. The process was painful."

"But you're happy now." I said, trying to smile.

"We are." Will said, looking down, "We actually feel very lucky to have Charlotte and Henry. Even this weirdo Jem." He chuckled.

"Snack time!" Cecily called and gave us our pancakes. Will gave me a half smile before digging into his meal.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"What- Ugh come here Church!" Cecily groaned as she went after the cat yet again but he was too fast, so he jumped over, dodging her and running around the room to hide in another corner of the room.

"Quit trying already." Jem chuckled, leaning against the wall, "Everyone knows he likes no one but me."

"Well, he will have to learn to like me too." Cecily said, taking small steps towards him again, hoping he won't notice.

We were in the training room at the moment. The room was a huge one, and a pretty much empty one with nothing but loads of weapons strapped to one wall of the room, and some targets and dummies on different corners. Cecily said she wanted to show me how they trained (Mostly Will and James) and how Will always won. Church had followed us in here. Well, maybe not us. Maybe just James.

"He's afraid of you." James grinned as the cat jumped into his arms, nuzzling up in his embrace, "Last night I found him hiding under a book case in the library. I bet you'd scared him."

"Well, the cat is a loser. And a coward. Just like you." Cecily stuck out her tongue at him and then turned towards me. The argument was seemingly over, and I almost hadn't wanted it to be. James and Cecily's arguments were really amusing, and it must have shown on my face because Will chuckled beside me.

"They have most of their conversations like this." He said, "Not particularly each other's favorites."

"I can see that." I said, as Cecily approached me and then smiled.

"So. What can we show you, Tessa?" She chirped, "Some badass shadowhunter fighting?"

"You're not holding that blade again, Cecily." Will said in his big-brother-protective voice, "Last time you had nearly sliced off Jem's arm."

"Do you blame me? He's so insufferably annoying."

"That doesn't change the fact that you're not holding any other weapon for a long time now."

"You know I'm hating you at the moment, right?" Cecily rolled her eyes and Will grinned.

"Let's do a duel, Will." Jem said, examining the large blade in his hands. The blade was beautiful, magnificent.

"Last time you said that, I was holding that sword an inch from your neck." Will said proudly.

"Then prove it and stop bluffing." Jem cocked his head, "It's your chance to impress your Tessa."

 _Your_ Tessa.

Apparently, Will noticed that too because he just glanced at me beside him for half a second and our eyes met, and I thought maybe I saw a hint of a smile, before he looked back at James and pouted. Cecily smirked.

"In for losing then, Jem?" Will grinned at his parabatai.

"We'll see." Jem frowned.

"They do set a great example for the parabatais all around the world." I pouted, and Cecily obviously did catch the sarcasm before she laughed.

"In serious situations, for example demon hunting, you won't even recognise them." She said, "They would give _anything_ to protect each other. Well, Will is always like that. But even if Jem is an ass most of the time, he'll still be dead serious in these situations. He'd turn awfully guilty if Will gets a wound or gets hurt in any way."

"Those are natural instincts? Or just because of the bond?"

"Well, I think" Cecily said thoughtfully, "that even if they weren't parabatai, they would still look after each other the same way. It's like Will found his non-existent brother in Jem." She smirked then, "And that is particularly the only thing that gives me the motivation not to kill Jem on several occasions."

By this time, Will had taken out another blade from the stack of weapons and now was standing opposite to Jem. They both grinned at each other before they launched and their swords met with a loud clank. They withdrew their swords and then attacked again, resulting in their swords striking again and then the room was filled with this sound as the both of them kept on fighting until Jem was pinned to the ground, one of Will's hand over Jem's chest and the other, holding the sword inches from his neck.

"You make it too easy, Carstairs." Will purred, pulling the sword back and then wiping it as if there was blood on it. Highly melodramatic.

"Ready to be pinned down the next time, Herondale." James said, grinning. Will offered him a hand which James took and got up off the ground.

"I actually was thinking of choosing your side this time, Jem." Cecily said, rolling her eyes, "Guess my brother just inherited too much of my awesomeness."

Jem just flashed us a grin before going back and tugging the sword back on the wall. Will did the same before turning around and grinning at me.

"Impressed enough?" He mused and I couldn't hide the smile.

"If you two idiots are done smiling at each other" James said, "Can we go now?"

As if on cue, Sophie came in the room and told us that Charlotte and Henry were back. Hearing that, the four of us walked back towards the living room, Will staying beside me.

When we entered the room, Charlotte was sitting on the sofa, pinching the bridge of her nose with her hand, her eyes closed as Henry kept a hand reassuringly over Charlotte's lap.

"What's wrong, Charlotte?" James asked, sounding concerned for very much the first time since I've seen him, "How did it go?"

"Not great" She sighed, "We told the Clave everything but they are not ready to believe us."

"What?" Will said unbelievably.

"They say we have nothing to defend our statements. And they do believe that Hybrids of Vampires and Werewolves are impossible as they won't survive the conversion."

"But I killed that hybrid _myself._ " Will said, a hint of reckless anger that he wasn't able to hide well in his voice "Am I not proof enough? Don't they believe me?"

"As if you have a _great_ reputation within the clave." Henry said flatly, "They already consider you reckless and immature. It won't really cost them to consider you a liar as well."

"That's ridiculous." Will clenched his jaw, "We can't let those creatures walk freely out there, just because the stupid clave is too egoistic to listen to me. They're killing warlocks, and we can't leave the issue like this. And most importantly, when they've made Tessa their main target. And now that I killed one... I don't know what they're going to do."

"There's already a wedge forming between the warlocks and the shadowhunters." James added, "They accuse us for what's happening to them. This would never end well."

"You're right." Charlotte sighed, "Which is why I've decided that we would investigate on this matter ourselves. Starting with research, to gather around more information about these creatures."

"We're going to do this without the Clave knowing?" Will grinned. He probably found the idea adventurous. Maybe it was.

"There's no other choice." Henry frowned, "We would protect you on all costs, Tessa. You don't have to worry about your safety."

"But... isn't it unfair?" I said quietly, "I am the main target of those hybrids. I'm putting you all in danger by being here."

"Don't say that." Will almost sounded angry, "It's our duty to protect. And you're no exception to it."

"For now, I've told the Clave that Tessa is here temporarily" Charlotte said, "They seemed to have little problem with it. But we won't be able to maintain this for long..."

"We'll see about that afterwards." Will said flatly, "For now, Tessa is in our custody. Safe and sound."

I was looking at Will, taking the advantage when he wasn't looking at me. I had noticed how I did that a lot now and then. I was observing how every concern on his face was genuine.

"Will's right." Cecily said, "We're going to protect Tessa. No matter what."

James was standing there, against the wall seeming entirely bored. He didn't bother to say anything either.

"Okay, Okay I get it." Charlotte grinned, "Looks like it didn't take you long to be on their good sides, Tessa."

"I guess." I shrugged, smiling, "You people are very caring, and I cannot be thankful enough for that. I don't know why the warlocks hate you."

"Do you?" Cecily said, "Hate us, I mean?"

"I had grown up listening to stories about how the Shadowhunters favored all the other downworlders over us. I hated that at first, maybe even hated Shadowhunters, but not now." I sighed, "It's hard to hate the people who pretty much saved my life."

"Then it's great that the misunderstanding is clear" Henry said, "We're happy to have you here, Tessa."

"Now come on, Children. It's dinner time." Charlotte said.

We ate dinner at the large dining hall, Charlotte and Henry discussing something with Will and Jem. Asking them if they behaved well today, and if they can leave me in their hands. They talked about me like I was something small and fragile. Maybe I even was, but... there was this strange feeling in me that insisted I wasn't. I wasn't weak, I was strong. I just had to find that strong part in me.

As always, the dinner was very delicious and I complemented Sophie for making it all, at which she blushed and asked me what I liked the most. I thought about it for a while, but then shrugged and said I would eat anything she makes. Sophie seemed really nice, all the time.

After eating the dinner, when everyone got up, Will walked towards me and stood there. God, he practically towered over me.

"Do you want me to walk you to your room?" He had his signature half smile on his face.

"Do you want to?" I cocked my head.

"Very much."

"Fine."

We walked beside each other out of the dining hall and then we were out in the dim lighted corridor. Everyone else wished me goodnight and went on their way, leaving me and Will to walk to my room.

"Are you okay?" Will said, "Like... Okay, okay?"

I laughed at that. " _Okay, Okay?_ "

"Yeah." He shrugged, "I mean, this is a question you're asked every once in a while, and you don't even think before you answer that you're perfectly fine. But I don't mean it like that. Are you _really_ okay?"

I was quiet for a while, giving it some time to sink in.

"I'm coping." I gulped in, "Trying."

"What's wrong?" It was almost a whisper, and maybe a plea. "Tell me."

"I've never lived a single day of my life without mother." It was out, at last, "Not even more than just some moments. I've been spoiled. Mom was always fussing, always warning, always worrying. And I knew that she would die one day, that she was mortal and I probably wasn't. I... just didn't want it to be like this."

"She is proud of you, Tessa." Will said.

"Well, I'm not proud of myself." I was struggling to keep back the tears, "Mother was mortal, nothing more than a mere human being. What would have the hybrid wanted from her? Apart from _me_?"

Will stopped still in his tracks.

"Are... Are you blaming _yourself_?" He said, unbelievably.

"She probably died shielding me. Trying to hide my identity, or maybe trying to fight that thing. And it all went to waste because it got to me anyway-"

" _Stop it._ " Will placed his hands on both of my shoulders. I hadn't even realised when, between the words I had started sobbing, tears running down my face, "If you have nothing else to do, that doesn't mean you're going to blame and torture yourself."

"But... I have _nothing_ left now." I sobbed again, " _Nothing.._ "

"Oh, God. I knew this was going on inside you. I should've known _better_ to do something about it." Will said quietly.

"You can't do anything about it." I wiped away the tears on my face, and then looked up to see Will, his face filled with so many emotions that I looked away, "Just... I'm tired. I want to sleep."

After that, we walked quietly. In between somewhere, Will slid his hand into mine and it almost felt like maybe there was hope. So I didn't pull my hand away and we walked like that until we reached my room. I stood there for a while, looking down at his hand holding mine, still.

"Thank you." I said.

"I'm not going to ask if you're going to be okay, because I know you're not."

"It's okay." I chuckled dryly, "Don't... Just don't waste your time or energy over me. I don't deserve any of it."

He looked at me like he had millions of things to shoot back at me, but stayed silent and clenched his jaw.

"Goodnight, Will" I took my hand out of his and then walked inside my dark hole, closing the door to the only source of light I could see for miles.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I was cold as ice as I tried to cover myself further, but I had nothing. Nothing to cover myself from the creature standing in my room.

No. Not my room. My mother's room.

It felt like my organs were freezing. It was snowing heavily outside; I had known winter was near. But the hybrid had blown out the fire and I was left here, still as a stone as the hybrid took a step towards my mother, sleeping peacefully under the blankets in her small bed.

No. I wouldn't let that happen.

I was willing my feet to move, but it felt like they were glued to the ground. I tried again, willing to run and launch myself at that heartless creature. To kill him with my bear hands. But nothing happened. I couldn't move. I was stuck there. Helpless.

The hybrid was closer to my mother now, and I screamed on top of my lungs. Hoping mother would wake up and notice the creature in her room. Hoping this would end well. But it felt like I wasn't even there. As if my mother couldn't even hear me, she kept sleeping. The only thing that made me believe I was there was the grin that the creature gave me, baring his pointed teeth.

"Mother! Mother, wake up!" I screamed again, struggling to get out of the invisible ties that were holding me there but failing. My mother kept sleeping.

Kept sleeping as the creature pulled her out from under the blankets, holding her by her hair and looked right into my eyes before he sank his fangs into my mother's neck.

All I could do was scream.

"At last it's snowing." Sophie said softly while she was making my hair into a bun behind my head, looking out through the window in my room, "I have waited for it for so long."

I had been half sleeping while Sophie helped me bath and then dress up, and was half sleeping now as well. What else would happen when you got hardly an hour of sleep in two days? Sophie's words made me realise that I was cold, even in the fire that Sophie made a while ago, burning in the fireplace. And I knew no fire could help warm my blood that turned to ice every time I thought about the nightmares.

"Do you like winters?" I said, it came out unintentionally quiet.

"I do." I saw her smile in the mirror in front of me, "Especially the snow. I love how it's all white and cold."

"I think it's just pathetic." I sighed, "All sad and colorless. It's so dull. Almost tragic." I yawned.

"Did you not sleep last night, Tessa?" Sophie sounded concerned.

"I... did." I said, "It's just... winters make me lazy."

"Oh yes, they do." Sophie pouted. Today, Charlotte had sent me a dress again, this time a maroon one, with a black woolen sweater as well, seeing how cold it was outside. I wondered how she had so many beautiful dresses, exactly my size.

"Can I..." Sophie said quietly, "Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" I said, trying to pay attention.

"It's just..."

"Tell me, Sophie."

"Why was Will sleeping outside your room?"

"Wait... _What_?" I practically fell off my seat.

"Yeah. I don't know." She said, shrugging, "I saw him there when I was passing by at midnight. He was leaning against your door, his eyes closed. I just assumed he was sleeping and tip towed away. He wasn't here when I came in the morning, though."

I just gulped in, I wasn't sure I was breathing. Will was stupid. Crazy.

"Never mind." Sophie cleared her throat, "Will does what he wants. So, let me tell you, it's no use telling him not to worry about you. He always will."

"I figured that out." I sighed.

"Let's go. You're ready."

I followed Sophie out again, and I touched the clockwork angel over my throat. I moved my hand over the sharp edges, it was still not ticking. I wondered why I was always expecting it to be.

And I wondered why I was nervous to see Will today.

As I stood in the entrance of the dining hall beside Sophie, Cecily looked up from her food and grinned at me.

"The beauty's here." Cecily chirped, and Charlotte smiled at me yet again.

"It's almost fun watching you fit in these dresses so perfectly." She grinned.

"Yeah. I guessed that." I said, looking around the table at a smiling Henry and a frowning Jem.

"Where's the beast?" He said, pouting.

I realised Will wasn't there on the table, and as if on cue, I felt a person come and stand behind me.

"Someone remembered me?" He said, his voice carrying all the amusement.

"Name of the devil." Henry smirked.

"Hello, Tessa." Will said in a way only I could hear coming forward to stand beside me, "Hope you slept well."

"Very." I rolled my eyes, following Sophie ahead and sitting beside Cecily again. Will took his seat opposite me and nudged Jem out of nowhere.

"So children, we're going to the Clave meeting today. Again." Henry said, "We're going to try to make them believe us again. It's all up to them now."

"Yes. So I hope you can stay on your own." Charlotte interjected.

"And if the Clave doesn't believe us?" Jem said.

"Our private investigation starts tomorrow." Charlotte said.

"Great." Jem huffed.

After we were done with breakfast, Charlotte and Henry said their goodbyes before they went out, and Will stood up from his seat.

"Ready, Parabatai?" Will grinned down at Jem.

"Always am." He grinned back.

"Where are _you_ guys going?" Cecily eyed them both.

"Some demon hunting to do." Will shrugged.

"You mean 'illegal' demon hunting." I said.

"How do you know us so well, Tessy?" Cecily chirped.

"I'll pretend you didn't just call her that." Will laughed.

"I'll go and bring the weapons." Jem frowned, getting up and going out of the room.

"I'm going with Jem." Cecily grinned, getting up and following after Jem.

"Try not to kill him." Will called after her before she disappeared out of the room, leaving me and Will alone in the room.

"Is it a warlock thing?" Will mused.

"What?" I said.

"Looking that incredible?" He smirked.

"I guess." I laughed, "We have the 'immortal' beauty. I never knew what it was, aging was never beautiful."

"But you don't age."

"Not physically. Mentally we do."

"Which makes you highly powerful." He smirked.

"Powerful enough to strangle anyone who's sleeping outside my room, without me knowing." I rested my head over my hands and watched his smirk fade.

"So... you know." He sighed, "Sophie. That... girl."

"Look, Will. I'm not letting you do this." I said quietly, "I know I worried you by talking like that last night. I should've kept that to myself. But please... Don't. Just don't."

"I can't, Okay?" He said flatly, "I can't control it. I can't sleep anyway when my mind's bursting with you in there."

I blinked at him.

"I'll try not to sleep outside your room again. Promise." He frowned.

"I'd be highly grateful." I smiled, "I don't want you catching up with your sleep while hunting demons."

"Enough with the seducing." Jem said, barging into the room and throwing the sword towards Will who got up and caught it, rolling his eyes at him before strapping it over his suit, that I now realised was his gear.

"I'd throw a party when I hear you say something good." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Don't invite him, please." Will said and I chuckled.

"Did someone say something about a party?" Cecily came into the room, looking around.

"Duh. Let's go Will." Jem said.

Will looked back at me and smiled before he started walking out of the room.

"Take care." I blurted out.

"I'll pretend it was only for Will." Jem laughed.

With that, they disappeared out of the room and I sighed inwardly, looking at Cecily beside me, who patted my shoulder.

"Don't worry." Cecily said, "Those idiots always come back home alive."

"It hurts you idiot!" Will snarled at Jem, who didn't really seem to care. Stele in hand, he was drawing patterns on Will's arm. Iratzes, the healing runes.

"I told you to be careful." Jem said, ignoring Will and pressing the tip of his stele yet again on Will's arm, who winced at the contact, I thought it hurts more when your skin gets boiled because of a demon's blood?"

"It did..." Will said, "But that demon wasn't my parabatai. You, for your kind information, are."

"Shut up and let me concentrate."

Will sighed and looked up to see me leaning against the door frame, with Cecily shaking her head at the both of them.

"Are you okay?" I said, frowning.

"Yeah..." He winced again, "Not really."

"Jem? Are _you_ okay?" Cecily said, walking into the room and standing beside them both as Jem completed the last of the iratzes and stood up, stumbling. And nodding.

"God. Sit down and let me put the iratze over you." Cecily rolled her eyes.

"No. Really, I'm fine-"

"Shut up." Cecily took his hand and it was odd that he gave in too easily, as she led him to sit on another chair and took the stele from his hand, as she began to draw the same pattern over his arm.

"Did the demon bite you?" I said, cocking my head as I watched Will. He laughed.

"No. That would've been worse." He said, "It's just that the demon's blood is poisonous. And that goddamn thing tore of my gear, and so my arms got burned. Though they're going to be fine."

"Where were these demons?"

"In a super market." Will chuckled, "It was hilarious how every mundane went by without any clue that there was a battle going on near them."

"You make it sound like you were _playing_." I pouted.

"He's retarded. Don't mind him." Cecily said, never taking her eyes off her hands working on Jem's arm. Jem was looking down at her, "He loves battles. Thinks they're fun. Anything that includes fighting will amuse him."

"Sister knows me the best." Will grinned.

"Here. It's done." Cecily said, examining the patterns she'd made on Jem's arm. She smirked at Jem who then got up and rolled his sleeves down.

"If I'm not wrong," I observed, "I had read somehwere that when the parabatais draw runes on each other, they were more powerful than the runes given to them by anyone else."

"You're right." Jem said quietly.

"So why didn't... Will draw the rune on you? Wouldn't it have been more effective?"

Everyone was quiet for a while, but then Cecily stepped forward and smiled weakly at me.

"It's... just a little different with Will." She said, "The runes Will draws are nearly powerless."

"What? But... How can... Why?" I said, and looking at Will who had lowered his head nearly made my voice break.

"We don't know." Cecily shrugged, "It's an exception with him, which is why even the runes he drew on himself didn't have as much power as they were supposed to have. So instead, Jem gives him his runes. But if Will draws them... They aren't as much effective."

"Guess that's what the angels do to bad shadowhunters." Will said quietly.

"Don't say that. You're one of the bravest shadowhunters I've ever seen." Jem protested.

"That doesn't even matter." Will then looked up, "My blood _lacks_ the power a shadowhunter should have. If I would've known that I would be useless to you after becoming parabatai, I would never have wanted to make myself a burden over you."

"That doesn't describe what you are." I said, and then Will looked towards me and gave me a fake smile, as if saying _thanks for trying to be nice_. "Really. Because you're not the only one."

"What do you mean?" Jem's head jerked towards me, "Do you know someone with the same situation? Do you know what the problem is?"

"Do you know of any way to cure it?" Cecily interjected.

"I don't know what the cure is, nor do I know the problem." I pulled out a chair and sat on it, Will looking at me with just a little hope, "But the powerlessness. That's exactly what's happening with me."

" _What?_ " Will nearly fell off his chair, "Why didn't you tell me you were-"

"Will you shut up and stop fussing for once? Listen to me first." I said sternly and he pouted, "I'm fine. This is something going on with me since I was a child. Every warlock living around me talked about how powerful I was expected, or maybe predicted, to be. How many things I would be able to do that no other warlock could ever do. And as I grew up, Mom started to test it on me. Taught me different spells, but I could do none of them.

My mom said that maybe it wasn't time. Maybe the powers would come at a certain age. But there was supposed to be no age, because it was in my blood. The power was supposed to be with me since the start."

At the moment, I was the center of attention amongst all the three of them, and it felt weird. Will was still looking at me worriedly.

"Mom was worried about it," I continued, "But she never told me so. I once overheard her talking with Catarina about how nothing was happening like it was supposed to. But even then, all of the warlocks' hopes were high. They still expected so much great from me, while all I was able to do was blow candles or control the wind to a very small degree. Mom was still trying to figure out what was wrong... when she died."

Jem's eyes were wide, and Cecily had her mouth half open. Will just stared at me like he had seen something new in me. Something itched inside me at the thought that the _something_ was nothing but another weakness.

"Did your mother tell you anything? When she died?" Jem said, "I mean she did talk to you when you reached home, didn't she?"

I was taken aback by the question. She did tell me things, but I knew it very well that I wasn't going to tell that to them. I wasn't even sure, it could've been about anything. _His name is Will_. It didn't make sense.

"No." I said quietly, "Just the same old goodbye speech. Take care of yourself and go somewhere safe."

"I'm glad I did that for you." Will smiled, "I'm sorry. I know the feeling... of being powerless. Being different, but not in a great way. It sucks."

"I'm sorry for you too," I sighed, "But... maybe we can find something out to help you?"

"We've tried Tessa." Cecily said, "From everywhere. But we have no idea what's wrong. He is a pure shadowhunter, and had shdadowhunter parents. Nothing is wrong with his blood."

"But now that you're here." Jem said, "Maybe there's hope for you two. Maybe we can find out what's wrong with you, and solve it all. Make you powerful again."

"Wow." Will chuckled, "Jem just said really good things over there. Did you see that Tessa? I'm amazed." Cecily laughed, patting Jem on the shoulder. I grinned.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"The Clave's crazy," Will rolled his eyes, "What did they want as a proof? Should I have plucked out a fang of his to show them?"

"Maybe." Charlotte shrugged, "But right now, they're not ready to help us with this. They know that Warlocks are dying, but they think it's just some lunatic vampire or werewolf who's doing it, not a hybrid. And that's exactly what they're searching for."

"And that's exactly what they're not going to find." Jem frowned.

We were sitting on the dining table as usual, and it was hard to pay attention to them talking when the food was so delicious. But I looked up then, putting my spoon down. As usual, Jem and Will sat opposite me and Cecily beside me. Charlotte and Henry on the head of the table.

"But... what if I go?" I said, "With you, to the Clave meeting I mean. Won't they even believe me?"

"No, that's imposs-" Will began.

"That's something to give a thought to, actually." Charlotte said, nodding.

"What... But she doesn't have a proof either!" Will protested.

"She is someone that is not _you._ Warlocks have been dying. If a warlock goes to them, a Warlock who survived, and tells them what the creature was that attacked her, maybe they'll listen."

"You're putting Tessa in danger for that 'maybe'." Will clenched his jaw, "What makes you think they won't just want her out of the institute if she's staying here without a purpose. They might send her somewhere else if we tell them it's for protection, and I'm not letting that happen!"

I stared at Will, who was almost red with anger and frustration, then he looked over at me and his blue eyes softened a bit. He looked down.

"You're in no place to stop her if she's willing to go," Henry said quietly, "Learn to face things you can't control, Will."

"Okay, listen to her. She has a death wish anyway." Will pushed his chair back and stood up.

"Will." I said quietly in the silence, looking down. He stopped, "Sit down. Please. I want to say something."

He had his jaw clenched as he looked at me, but after a moment he sat back down and looked away. Jem moved uncomfortably in his chair.

"Look, I don't feel anything good about it. Living here, doing nothing. Just being a large burden over you people. You were not even supposed to be responsible for my safety. But now that I'm staying here, I can just pay back a fraction of the favor by going to the Clave and trying to convince them for you."

"And it's not only about you people. My people are dying, the Warlocks. And I would really do anything to ensure they're safe." I added.

All of them were quiet after that. Jem turned to Will.

"Does that ensure you enough?" He frowned, "Tessa will be fine. Let her try this, it can help us. And can save many other lives out there."

Will had his hands in fists, but he carefully controlled his temper when I could practically see steam boiling out of him.

"Fine." He said quietly, "If you really want to do this, fine. But I'm going with you."

"But-"

"And this is not up for debating." He cut Charlotte off, looking over at her, challenging her to say something about it. She sighed dramatically.

"Of course it isn't." Charlotte got up off the table and so did Henry, "We're tired, so we're going to bed. You two, be ready, we'll leave after breakfast."

"We'll be." I tried to smile politely at her, "Goodnight."

They said goodnight to all before they exited the room. I got up too, pushing my chair back.

"I think I'm going to get some sleep too." I said, smiling.

"Yeah, you have _very_ deep dark circles." Cecily smiled.

"I know." I sighed, "Not getting enough sleep since many days."

"Sleep well." Cecily said. I looked over to Jem, who was frowning, but waved a hand as if saying goodbye. I smirked.

Will simply pushed back his chair and went towards me.

"Let's go." Were his only words before he started off out of the hall. I looked over to see Cecily and Jem, both smirking as their heads turned to look at us. I shrugged helplessly, following him and then we were out in the dim lighted corridor.

I walked beside him, and I could still practically feel rage evaporating off of him. He didn't even ask me if I wanted him to walk me to my room. Too late for that, I guess.

"I'm sorry." I said, because I could think of nothing else to say.

Will laughed, looking down.  
"For what? For putting yourself into danger again?"

"Yeah, well. You're angry with me." I frowned.

"You just need to act a little less reckless and that's it."

"But I get to decide for myself. Not you." I said sternly, and then I realised it might have hurt. He slowed down his pace now, and I was about to say sorry when he spoke again.

"You're right." He said quietly, "But I'm just joining the pieces and they do make sense now. You wanted to die that day, on the hands of that hybrid, because you were grieving. And because you blamed yourself for your mother. What if... what if you feel the same way still?"

I gulped in. I wasn't sure I was breathing the whole time he was speaking in the voice that was near to breaking.

"Why do you care, Will?" I almost whispered, "I'm just a warlock whom you just met three days ago. And already you're protecting me like your life depends on it."

He just smiled at me, shaking his head.  
"No need to ask me. I have no idea either." He shrugged, "I feel helplessly protective of you, Tessa. And get ready for it, because I can be a jerk about it. A big one."

I chuckled, but the words were still replaying in my mind.  
 _I feel helplessly protective of you, Tessa._

"So, planning to sleep outside my room again?" I said, smirking as I approached my room. I was surprised at the sadness that went through me at the thought. I wasn't really sure what that sadness was about.

"Who knows?" He grinned, leaning against the wall beside my door.

"Goodnight, Will." I said, as I opened my room. But it was dark. And I almost wanted to step back out when I took a step in. And then another. And another, but it felt like it was too much. The darkness in my room was consuming me.

I looked back at Will, of course he was still here. It must've shown on my face because his smile faded.  
"What is it?" He said.

"Nothing. Just really tired." I said, trying to smile.

"Okay. You should sleep. It's going to be a long day tomorrow." He said, smiling again.

I nodded and closed the door. It almost felt like a really big mistake.

I jerked upward on my bed, finding myself in the situation I had been since the last 3 days. My whole body felt covered with sweat, my knuckled white because of clenching the sheets too tight, my heart beating frantically in my chest and my lungs felt like they weren't getting enough oxygen.

These nightmares were making me afraid of sleeping.

I covered my face with my trembling hands and tried to calm myself down.

 _Just a dream. Nothing more. It's not real. Just a dream._

"Was he sleeping outside my room again?" I asked Sophie while she combed my hair down my back. She said she'd let my hair down today.

"You should know the answer already." Sophie shook her head disapprovingly, and I chuckled, "He's obsessed with you, you know."

"Yeah." I sighed, "He told me he feels protective about me. And having someone feel that way... I'm being selfish, because it actually makes me feel great."

"You like him, don't you?" Sophie smirked.

" _Sophie._ " I warned, "There's nothing like _that_."

"I believe you." Sophie said, but there was too much sarcasm in her tone.

The royal blue dress I was wearing today was equally beautiful as the ones I'd worn previously. My dark brown hair seemed a little less dark, and my green eyes brighter. When Sophie was done with my hair, I followed her out of my room. I was walking down the halls with Sophie when Will appeared from around a corner and grinned at me. I didn't have time to return it because I was practically staring at him. I'd seen Will either in gear, or simple. I wasn't expecting how good he'd look in a tux. His dark hair was carefully disheveled, his eyes a bright blue. His eyes were swimmable.

"You look bright today, Tessa." He said as a way of greeting as he fell into step beside me, "Too excited to meet the Clave?"

"Oh, yes. Would they give me candies?" I rolled my eyes and Will laughed. Then he looked over at Sophie and said, "I'll escort her to the dining hall."

Sophie looked at me and I thought she winked before she went away. That woman.

"Seriously. Are you okay? You can still change your mind." Will said flatly.

"Ha-ha. Nice try." I smirked, "What should I expect though?"

"There will be this large circular hall, with people sitting all around the hall. All of them shadowhunters. In the middle would be the inquisitor and the Head of Clave, and the decisions depend on them. Though they slightly depend on the other shadowhunters who are a part of the Clave as well."

"You aren't, right? You're not even 18." I chuckled. He frowned.

"Yeah. I'm not. Though Henry and Charlotte are, but when they're the only people in the whole hall who're believing a story told by a 17-year-old retard like me, it doesn't really help."

"I'm not scared, Will." I said, and I hoped it was enough to reassure him, "I just want them to believe me and do _something_ about it."

"Let's hope." He held my hand and squeezed it a little. My heart flared out of my chest. _Whoa, calm down dude._

We entered the dining hall and all of them looked at us. Cecily grinning, Jem frowning (Nothing new here), Charlotte and Henry smiling.

"Good to see you ready." Henry said, "You don't have to worry, Tessa. We all have your back."

"Especially Will. He _really_ has your back." Jem smirked and Will smiled before sitting down and nudging him with his elbow. I had started to think it was some parabatai greeting thing...

"You look amazing, Tessa." Cecily said sweetly, "May your beauty blind the Clave and make their stupid minds accept everything." I laughed at that and Charlotte shook her head at Cecily, smiling.

After we were done with the breakfast, we said our goodbyes to Jem and Cecily. I hugged Cecily tightly, and she chuckled.

"This may be the last time I'm seeing you." I said quietly to her and then she tightened her embrace around me.

"You know, I'd kill to never let that happen." Cecily said, "It's only been three days. But I already feel like life without you would be entirely boring."

She smiled encouragingly at me, and I felt like I would cry. "So please," She added, "Come back."

I nodded, that was the most I could do. I turned to Jem and fought the urge to widen my eyes as I saw him actually smile.

"As much as I hate to admit it, and as much as I'm an ass to you most of the time," He said, frowning, "I still want you to come back."

"Did Will bribe you to say that?" I laughed.

"Shit. I told you she'd guess it." Jem said and we all laughed as I wiped away the unnecessary tears.

"Ready?" Will's voice was a painful whisper. When I turned around to look at him, he was offering me his hand. This didn't even need a second thought. I held onto his hand and I wanted to close my eyes at the feeling that every time I held his hand, surged through me. As if I wasn't powerless, as if I was what I was supposed to be. I knew it was pretty insane, but in that moment I knew I would come back. I knew I would need his hand in the time when I had nothing else to hold on.

So I held on to his hand as tightly as I could. My hand was trembling slightly, and I hoped he hadn't seen it. I looked up at him and his eyes were filled with so many emotions, emotions that shouldn't be there while he looked at me.

"I'm never saying goodbye." He whispered and I could feel heat rushing up my back, even in the cold. In that moment, I didn't care if I'd be doomed. Or if I'd never see his face again after this, or if he'd hate me for it. I didn't care about anything, but I thought.

I thought, what it'd be like to kiss him?


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

It was snowing again out there. As if I hadn't gone through enough torture in this dress already. It was white literally everywhere and I couldn't stop shivering when I walked out of the institute. Small flecks of snow got caught in my hair but I couldn't care less. I could practically see my breath every time I exhaled.

Will, on the other hand, wasn't even feeling cold. And if he was, he wasn't really showing it.

"We have two carriages here." Charlotte said, "The both of you can sit in one. I and Henry will sit in the other."

Great. The heat surging through me felt great at the moment.

I walked towards the carriage that Charlotte had pointed towards, Will walking beside me. He had his hands deep into the pockets of his pants, and I envied him at the moment for having those pockets. My gloves didn't really help.

"As much as you rock that dress." Will chuckled, "You're going to catch cold."

"Have to blind the Clave with my beauty, no?" I said dryly and he laughed. Will went into the carriage first and then I reached out to take his hands. He lifted me into the carriage and closed the door behind me.

Bullocks. The carriage was small.

He sat down beside me and after a while the carriage started to move forward. I ran my hands over my arms, but it didn't help with the cold. It was literally crazy cold out here.

"You're miserable, Tessa." Will said quietly.

"Nothing can be done about it." It came out as a whisper. I was trembling badly.

Then he did something totally, totally unexpected.

He moved closer to me, until his body touched mine, and it was more than enough for the heat to travel through my body like fire in my veins. Then his hand came around my waist, and I was certain that I was blushing, but I wasn't sure if I was breathing. Could he hear my heart beating?

"This will help." I liked to think that I imagined his voice being hoarse.

I couldn't help but nuzzle up towards him a little, trying to make sure he didn't notice, but God, it was impossible. He chuckled dryly.

"Don't blame me. You're warm." I said quietly, and he chuckled again.

"Your hair smells great." He said, and I wanted to hide in a hole and die. I was happy to know he couldn't see my face; it would've been totally red.

"Your cologne smells great." It was true. He smelled so good; I breathed him in, trying to be as silent as possible.

"I'm worried about you." He said quietly.

"Not new, not new." I chuckled.

"Really. I'm telling you I'm going to tear the hall down if they harm you in any way, or send you away." He whispered, "I won't be able to help it."

"I'm not going to let you do that." I said, and his hand came forward to hold mine.

"You can't do anything about it either, Tessa." He said. I swear I was on fire. It was all too much, having him so near, holding hands, and listening to him whisper things like that while his words stroked over my skin.

"Don't do anything stupid." I said, "Please, Will. I do really want you to stay alive."

"Ha-ha. Funny." He chuckled and I punched him on his chest. He moved his hand over to my hair and kind of moved them through my hair, "There were flecks of snow in your hair." He clarified.

"I think I'm warm enough." I said, and moved away from him. It felt awful.

None the less, he grinned at me and the carriage slowed down.

"Are we there?" I said, and he nodded. The environment around him suddenly seemed to change.

He got out first and helped me out after him. Charlotte and Henry met us there, and Charlotte encouragingly squeezed my hand, Henry smilingly nodded at me, before we went inside the large building. It was glamoured too, of course. When we entered, there was a very long corridor extending in front of us.

Will stayed reassuringly close to me, looking around us. The corridor was empty, and we made our way through it. Soon, we were facing large wooden doors, and the guard standing in front of it greeted Charlotte and Henry before we entered it.

Awfully bright lights were the first things I noticed when I entered. When my eyes adjusted, the second thing I saw were people hustling around, and I could sense every one of them being shadowhunters.

The third thing I noticed was how everyone stopped whatever they were doing when we entered the hall. Each and every one of them looked at me, and the hall went miserably quiet.

We uncomfortably made our way towards the middle of the hall, where we took our seats together. Will kept my hand firmly in his, and I didn't in a million years want to pull away. His hand held mine in a way that told me that everything was going to be all right.

But then my senses tickled. Oh, My God. There was a warlock nearby. I looked around calmly; they wouldn't have allowed any warlock except for me to come in the conference hall. Then... what was it?

I was distracted as the person standing on the dais in the middle of the room cleared his throat in front of the mic.

"Greetings, Everyone." He said in his very deep, manly voice, "For those of you new here,"-mainly me-"I am Josiah Wayland, the Consul."

"The Consul is the head of the Clave. The main Clave meetings are held in Idris, and these people around here aren't all really Clave members. Just some people like me, attending this conference." Will whispered to me quietly, "so the Consul and the inquisitor live there, in Idris. But considering the seriousness of this issue, he's traveling to each and every institute all around the world."

I knew what Idris was, a city where only shadowhunters lived and only shadowhunters entered. To make it even more creepy, it's nowhere on the world map. Of course, I've never been there.

"We all know about how nearly every day, Warlocks are being killed in terrible ways. The issue is quite serious, and we have been investigating on the issue for a while." He then moved his eyes towards where we were sitting, and they were soft and cold at the same time, "But the head of the London Institute, Henry Branwell and Charlotte Branwell seem to present us with a theory that, although seems the least likely thing to be true, but despite that, deserves to be heard."

 _Theory_ was his word to explain the whole thing when that Hybrid almost killed me. I felt an urge to punch the old man in the stomach.

"I request Charlotte and Henry Branwell to come forward and explain it to the people again." Josiah said none too politely.

Charlotte and Henry stood up, and hand in hand made their way to the front of the room. They made a perfect team, I thought. They stood there, and Charlotte explained literally everything from that night, from how and why I was there, to what the creature almost did to me, to how Will saved me. She told them each and every detail about the creature. Her voice was confident and steady, and although Henry didn't speak much, he nodded as an encouragement at nearly every word Charlotte uttered.

"So that's all?" Josiah said.

"Yes. But to prove our statement, we have the warlock with us. The one who survived the attack. She has come here on her own will."

I heard everyone around me suck in a collective breath.

"Well, let's hear from her then." The Consul said, turning around and then facing me, "You may come forward, Warlock."

Will squeezed my hand one more time before leaving it, and I smiled weakly at him before I got up and made my way slowly down the hall. I went forward to stand beside Charlotte, who smiled at me.

"What's your name?" Josiah asked me.

"Samantha Brooklyn." I said, just as it was planned. I would reveal myself to them in hell.

"So, Samantha, what were you doing out there on the street so late at night when you clearly knew that Warlocks were becoming the target of these killers?"

"We can't exactly shut ourselves in our homes now, can we? Besides, they just killed my mother in my own house, I wasn't safe anyway. I went out to find somewhere to go, when the only person I knew in this world was killed." The pain in my voice was not fake, but they'd told me to act a little as well. Pity works sometimes.

Josiah nodded for a while, after which he said, "Very well. Now tell us what happened."

I told them exactly what happened after that. Leaving out the things the creature said to me about me being special and their main target. I did tell them that he was saying something about us getting in their way, and how Will saved me. I tried to keep Will as much out of the discussion as possible. I owed him that much.

Will was looking at me the whole time, and it was all I needed as a boost. It wasn't just an emotion when I said that he made me feel powerful, that he made me feel whole. It was all literal, and when I was done, he smiled at me and I could've melted there.

What _was_ happening to me?

"That's it?" The consul said, "Well isn't that exactly what Charlotte and Henry told us?"

"What else do you want to hear, Consul?" I said, and I couldn't help but snap at him, "What they told you are exactly true."

"Well, Samantha." The Consul said in his dead calm, cold voice, "I still can't see what's the proof in this."

"What do you mean by that?" I said, "What do you even need as a proof? I'm a survivor, I saw the hybrid with my own eyes, closer than anyone else did!"

"We don't know if you're just a warlock whom they caught out there and paid to come here and tell all the things they did so that they could prove their point?"

I was actually so disgusted that all the words that came in my mind were highly inappropriate, and I was having a hard time keeping quite.

"Secondly, it's hard to believe the hybrid situation. Years of research have proved that it's totally impossible, I don't see why you expect us to believe you when you suddenly come out of the blue and prove all of that wrong. We would've considered it if we would've found any trace that would've proved that the killer, or killers, was anything more than a lunatic serial killer."

"Enough, Consul." I heard Will say from where he was sitting and my head jerked up towards him. He stood up and walked down the hall to stand beside me.

"Oh, so we have the Herondale child here as well." The Consul said.

"Don't you think you have humiliated her enough?" He snapped at the Consul, "She almost got killed by that creature, and you're here arguing with her like she didn't just lose her mother to the creature you're not ready to believe in. What, exactly, are you trying to prove here?"

"I'm afraid you're in no position to argue with me, William." Josiah said with quiet calm.

"So that's it. It's all about your useless ego, isn't it?" Will laughed sarcastically.

"It's not about ego. We see no reason to believe you when you have no proof of it. Bringing a random Warlock with you over here won't fool us, why not try something more convincing?"

I slowly held his hand in mine and squeezed it tightly.

"Will," I whispered, "Don't."

"The only proof you'd be satisfied with would be when the hybrid comes into your house and separates your head from your fat body." Will said.

The hall filled with gasps.

I looked up at Will, who was raging so hard I thought he'd burst because of it. The Consul was red in the face as he stared Will down. Still, he spoke calmly.

"Well, your spoiled behavior is not new to us." He said, "I think the conference is over. I would like the inquisitor to come forward and say something about it."

Will was so tense, there was practically heat radiation off of him. I didn't know from where did he get the strength to stay silent and keep the retort, that I somehow knew would've formed within him, back. Josiah quietly stepped away from the dais, and another old looking man came forward.

"I am Victor Whitelaw, the inquisitor." The man said in his husky voice, "I've been examining this argument for a while, and I've come to see that the Branwell family is losing it, I'm afraid."

The hall was quiet for a while, I couldn't help but think that Victor seemed much more intense and cold than Josiah.

"But, it is our concern, how we're being so lenient." Victor said, "We've been getting reports that the warlock, Samantha as you say, has been staying at the London institute. For no apparent reason."

"She's in danger!" Will retorted, and his hand fiercely closed over mine. He pulled me behind him, "She won't survive out there if we leave her."

"Well, certainly there are many more warlocks living out there. Under the same threat that she is. I don't think you're going to give refuge to every warlock you see out there."

"For Jesus' sake!" Will said, and then the hall went so quiet the only sound I could hear was my heart thundering in my chest. Will then seemed to take in a long breath, then began, "She's here just for as long as she can't find refuge. As soon as we get her safe somewhere else, we're keeping her here."

"And for how long is that supposed to be, child?" The inquisitor said sternly.

"That's none of your business." Will muttered, but the inquisitor didn't hear it. The Inquisitor leaned forward a little.

"What did you say?" He said.

"Will. Please, or else I'm surrendering to them." As soon as the words left my mouth, he went so still and quiet that I doubted he would catch back his voice. Then he moved a little closer to me.

"Please," His voice broke, "Please. Just some time, and she'll go."

"Can I ask you something, William?" The inquisitor said, and Will stayed still. He went on anyway, "What does the warlock mean to you?"

Silence.

"She's a poor girl who lost her mother less than a week ago, and now has nowhere else to live, and probably has an army of creatures trying to kill her. Any sane man with a heart would do what I'm doing; protect her." I tried to push the useless disappointment down.

Silence again. The inquisitor stood there for a while, probably thinking. I could feel the blood pounding through my veins, feel Will's closeness sooth me, as if he was giving off some waves that made me believe that everything was going to be okay.

"I'm afraid I have no other choice." The man sighed, "She can live in the institute, but only for a little while. She'll have to leave after that, no matter what."

"Thank you, Victor." Charlotte said, truly sounding thankful.

"As long as the Hybrid theory is concerned," Victor went on, "I'm afraid, we'll have to leave it aside for a while. Investigate into things we think are much more possible." He then turned to us four, standing together, "And you're welcome to come here when you have a better proof for your statements."

He turned to the crowd then, not waiting for a response, and waved a hand forward. "The conference is dismissed."


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I had no idea how it all happened, it was all a blur between the rush of the Shadowhunters around me while I still tried to process what the actual _heck_ just happened over here, but soon I found myself outside the large doors of the Conference hall, Will, Charlotte and Henry beside me.

"Oh, my God." Will breathed, "Tessa.."

It wasn't easy to pretend like I wasn't just breaking piece by piece on the inside when he called my name like that. I wanted to close my eyes at how his words stroked my skin, but I didn't.

Because there was this sudden surge of anger inside me that I wasn't even sure about what it was for. But when he made to come a little closer, I jerked away from him. It required all the will power I could ever muster up.

He looked at me confused for a while, before I started walking forward and then I was out there. There was even more snow everywhere now, and I realised it was snowing fiercely outside. I made to cover myself with my arms as I walked through it. I held the edges of the carriage and lifted myself up it.

Will came after me, and he was still looking at me like I had gone crazy or something. I couldn't help the shivering as the cold took the better of me. I protectively moved a little more away from Will, who was still looking at me, his head cocked. I looked out the window. Anything but him.

"I know you're not going to let me near you, for whatever reason," I could hear the frown in his voice, "At least take my coat. You'll get cold."

"I don't need your useless coat." I snapped, "I'm fine."

The rest of the ride went in silence, but not the awkward one. I mean, the tension in the air was enough to eat all the awkwardness. I was so damn pissed. So mad. My mind was going to blast with it.

When we reached back to the institute, I jumped out of the carriage myself, thank you very much Will, and started walking ahead. Charlotte caught up with me, and looked at me questioningly.

"Everything alright?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah... No... I don't know." I sighed, "I think I might as well not be able to control my temper for long. So thank you, for today. Even though it was a fail."

"I should thank you, Tessa." Charlotte smiled wickedly then, "I think Will's in some deep problem."

I pouted and then went ahead inside the institute, Charlotte and Henry said they needed to change so they went straight to their room, and I found myself standing in the empty living room after a while. Fully aware that Will was behind me.

"What's the matter?" He said quietly, coming forward to stand near me, but still at a safe distance.

"Nothing." I said.

"You're going to have to tell me eventually."

"Oh yeah. Because everyone knows how Will Herondale knows what he wants and gets it all the time." I whirled around at him, "Will, always the one to win!"

He stared at me, dumbstruck, "Tessa... Is it about the Conference?"

"How... How can you do that?" I said, my voice breaking, "Coming forward and speaking like that to the Inquisitor? And Jesus Christ, even the Consul? What did you even want to prove?"

"He was treating you like some warlock he assumed I pulled out of a gutter down the alley." He retorted, "What was I supposed to do, sit there and watch the show?"

"Well, if he would've punished you for it, and God knows what that punishment would've been amongst you stupid Shadowhunters, what was I supposed to do? Eat popcorn while I watch you suffer, knowing it's all because of me?" I was on the verge of tears. He blinked at me.

"The whole time, I was scared for you more than me. Scratch that, you were stabbing me the whole time you were saying those things to a person triple your age, and ten times your rank, having full control over almost everyone present in the room. It was all a very big mistake, I should've never let you come with me!" I then moved forward, "What do you think? Are you the only one allowed to care? Allowed to fuss all the time? Do you just assume that we are going to enjoy watching you suffer?"

I was breathing so hard, still my lungs weren't getting enough air, my heart not beating fast enough. My mind was literally spinning. There was utter silence in the room for a while, me staring at him, his eyes down. But then he looked up and his eyes were on the verge of losing control, silver lining the edges.

"Tessa..." He whispered.

"Just... Don't. Okay?" I closed my eyes, "I'm tired. I'm going up."

With that I left the room, and as much as I wanted to, I didn't once turn around.

I lied flat on my bed, staring at the white ceiling of my room that was so high up. I took in a deep breath yet again, then let it out slowly. I was trying to calm myself down, and I think it was working.

Still, I felt like I was going to smack Will on the face if I saw him again.

I never thought I'd say those things to him, I didn't even know what I was mad at until that moment. But I was still feeling much more than I said. Right there, in those few moments while Will talked in front of the Consul and the Inquisitor, I knew how I wanted to throw myself in front of him, shield him from those unforgiving eyes. I knew I would've killed to keep him safe. And, I knew this as well that I never felt like that for anyone. Ever. In my whole life.

I sighed, then closed my eyes in frustration. This was bad, really. I felt it in my bones that something was happening to me, something that shouldn't be happening to me.

The door to my room slammed open, and I jolted up on my bed. But it was just Cecily, standing there, then looking back at the door guiltily and lightly pushing it shut behind her.

"Sorry. My bad habits aren't getting good anytime soon." She grinned.

"That's okay. I wasn't really doing anything." I sighed.

"You're back!" Cecily's grin widened and she came forward to give me a long, tight hug, "I'm so happy, Tessa. Really."

"Me too." I smiled, looked over at her face, and the blue eyes exactly the same as Will's, and then looked away, "You would quite be the hot topic in the Shadowhunter community for a while, though. You know... Keeping a warlock with you and stuff."

"Like anyone here has enough time to care." She rolled her eyes, "Speaking of, why is Willy so pissed all of a sudden?"

"I don't know." I pouted.

"You do." She smirked, "He's shut himself in his room. Maybe sitting in a corner and crying his eyes out."

I stared at her for a while after which she laughed, "I'm kidding, Tessa. Look at your face." She shook her head incredulously, "Will never cries."

"That's better." I huffed out a breath.

"But, really. Did you guys fight?" She smirked.

"He deserved it." I said, and I thought more to myself, just to get over the tiny bit of guilt inside me. God Dammit. Already the guilt?

"Charlotte told me everything that happened at the Conference." Cecily smiled sympathetically, "Poor Willy, always the one to save the day."

"I never asked him to." I groaned, "All I asked him was to try to stay as much away from this problem as possible. But he, being the insufferable human he is, did what he wanted to."

"I'm with you." Cecily grinned, "But Tessa... He begged them for you."

I was quite after that.

"He's never done that for anyone, ever. He's always Will, proud and egoistic. He just simply hates the Clave, especially The Inquisitor and Consul, and he would've never begged them for anything."

I looked at her, trying to push back the tears hastily. Jesus.

"I think there's something going on with him.." Cecily said quietly, "I think he's into you."

"He's not." I rolled my eyes, "He's trying to protect me, that's it. Besides, how long has he known me for? A week?"

"You don't even know the half of it." Cecily said, then looked like she just said something she shouldn't have said.

"What... What do you mean?" I narrowed my eyes at her.

She looked at me helplessly, but then the door to my room opened, and Jem appeared from behind it. His expression looked weird.

"What's wrong, Jem?" I said.

"There's someone here to meet you." He said quietly.

I stared at him, I thought I wasn't breathing.

"Who is it?" Cecily asked for me. She just almost seemed relieved, getting interrupted.

He just stood there for a while, looking at us. Then he cleared his throat.

"It's Magnus Bane." 


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"What does he want from you, now?" Cecily asked as we rushed down the halls, "Were you still close to him?"

"No." I frowned, still confused by this sudden appearance, "I don't really know about mom...I don't know what she has been keeping from me until now. But the last time I talked to Magnus was 2 years ago."

I and Magnus weren't exactly friends, but we didn't hate each other either. It was just his attitude, but I wondered how you couldn't have that after living more than 500 years. I shivered at the thought. Magnus was all awfully handsome; not even looking older than 25, God knows how many girls were head over heels for him. His cat like eyes, yellow with the tint of blue, were just so unique and amazing in their own way. But even then, I just couldn't like him.

"Would he hurt you?"

"God. No. Of course not."I chuckle nervously, shaking my head. Umm.. Would he?

"Magnus isn't really someone we can trust, Tessa." Cecily frowns, "You should probably take care."

"I know him." I fake-smile, "I'll be fine."

Jem had gone, saying he needed to be there guarding the living room where Magnus was sitting. I didn't even know why, but I was so terribly nervous. Magnus and I were never that close, although most of the things I know and the knowledge I have is because of him. When mom thought I had known enough, she said I should now spend time at home, practicing spells that I still couldn't do. A big fat disappointment I was, actually. But I was quite suspicious at the sudden change when out of nowhere, mom told me I would not be learning from Magnus anymore. After that, I never saw him.

I found myself standing in front of the doorway to the living room, mustering up the confidence to go in. Cecily stood close beside me.

"Performing your brother's duty, are you?" I rolled my eyes. She just shrugged.

I opened the door to the room and entered it. Jem was constantly frowning at the figure that was sitting on the sofa, Charlotte sitting on the other one, talking to him politely. When I entered, he stood up and turned around. Magnus was so powerful that whenever I was around him, I felt this sudden jolt of magic, of power. As usual, he looked very young. Not more than 25, with black hair and the half smile he always had on his face. He was wearing a tuxedo, all formal, and he smiled brighter when he saw me. He was quite handsome, no one knew how deceiving beauty could be. I made my way and stood there in front of him.

"Magnus." I said, as a way of greeting.

"Oh, Tessa." He said, "You've changed so much since the last time I saw you. You've become more beautiful, of course. You got your beauty from your mother."

Thank God I didn't get it from whoever demon was my father.

"Guess I'm not immortal yet. Still aging." I smirked.

"Yeah, well. Become a little prettier before it happens, beauty helps in immortality." He grinned, then looked beside me at Cecily.

"Cecily." He said, "It's nice to see you again."

"Not really having the same opinion here, Magnus." Cecily said flatly.

"Cecily." Charlotte warned.

"Its okay, Charlotte." Magnus waved his hand, "I like her attitude. And her brother's as well. They're so like each other."

"Magnus told me that he was here to see you, Tessa." Charlotte's face wasn't giving away any expression.

"I'm so, very sorry about your mother, Tessa." Magnus' expression turned sad, "I wish I could've been there, there to take care of you when she died."

"I'm coping with it." I managed, "It's hard. Living without her."

"I understand." He gave me a sympathetic smile, "She was a kind woman."

"Did you come here just to sympathise?" Cecily said sternly.

"Already so protective, aren't you?" Magnus winked at Cecily, "But, no. I've come here to take something from Tessa."

I stood there, still as a statue. Of course I knew. Magnus didn't just roam around throwing away good sentences at everyone. He always had a purpose behind all of it. I just hoped this time, it was a good one.

"What?" I said, innocently, "I didn't bring anything important with me when I came here. I'm afraid I wouldn't be having something that belongs to you."

"Well, yes. You do." He smiled, "I want the Black Book."

My heart really stopped beating. I worked on taking care of my expression, not to give away how awfully terrified I was.

"I don't-"

"Yes, Tessa. You have it and I know it." He cut in, and there was an edge to his voice.

Then there was silence. Charlotte was still. Jem was still. All of them looking at Magnus, getting ready for whatever was going to follow.

"I'm not going to give it to you, Magnus." I said quietly, giving up already.

"You don't need to worry about Catarina. I know it's hers, and I have her consent."

"I'm still not giving it to you."

It was oh-so-clear that he was trying to control his temper.

"And why is that?" His voice was calm.

"I can't. That book means something to me." I said, "Mother wanted me to keep that book with me. And I will keep it with me, Magnus."

"Oh, that's nonsense!" Magnus snapped, "What would a girl like you have to do with that book? And it certainly isn't your property to decide if you want to give it to me or not."

"There certainly was a reason behind it when mom used her last breaths to tell me about a damned BOOK." I retorted, "I'm not giving it to you. At least, not until I find out what it is because of which she wanted me to keep it with me."

He clenched his jaw then, his hands curling into fists. Oh, just how fast that good mask fell off.

"You know." He said with dead calm, "You know I can do _anything_ I want to. Including taking that book forcefully from you."

"You won't." I said quietly.

"I think you heard what she said," And that's when Will came into the room. He walked gracefully until he was standing beside me, opposite to where Cecily was. Great. Now I have personal bodyguards on both my sides. I felt that sudden jolt of power I always felt whenever Will came near me. I took a step away from him, and it required all of the willpower I had in me.

"William." Magnus grinned, "So very nice to see you again."

Will rolled his eyes and didn't say anything.

"Tessa, you're still the powerless, useless little warlock, aren't you?" Magnus grinned, "I enjoyed watching your mother try so hard to teach you magic, when all you did was light little candles."

"That's none if your business!" I snapped fiercely.

"You'll be useless forever, Tessa" Magnus had an edge of anger in his voice, "So will you be, Herondale. So very alike, you both are. Maybe that's why you're so close."

"It was _nice_ meeting you Magnus." Jem snapped, "You can leave now."

Magnus looked around, and he knew he was insulted. And I knew he didn't like it. The door was wide open for him to move out, but he looked back at me and stared for a while.

"I'll come back for it, Tessa." Were his last words, before he vanished into thin air, leaving behind a trace of blue sparkles. That's how his magic was.

We stood there for a while, still. Cecily put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"Are you okay?" She said quietly, "I told you Magnus is a prick."

"I'm fine." I fake-smiled, "Totally fine."

Will, on the other hand, was standing beside me. He was looking forward, but he looked distant. He didn't dare touch me, but it was clear he wanted to make sure I was okay. He was being wise. But I knew Magnus' words stung him, just like they stung me.

"Doesn't the Black Book mostly have mild spells?" Jem said, "I mean, it has nothing so important that a high Warlock like Magnus would want. Then why was he so desperate to get it?"

"I assume the same reason mom was desperate for me to take it." I frowned.

"You're right." Charlotte said, "Maybe there is something more to that book."

I nodded.

 _You're still the powerless, useless warlock, aren't you?_

I tried to shake off Magnus' words from my head. But I didn't know why I felt that sudden surge of anger when he called Will useless. I wanted to hold him now, tell him he wasn't useless. He wasn't powerless. But I resisted it. Resisted the urge to hug him and tell him that he was perfect. It was so strong that I had to close my eyes against it for a while.

"I... I'm going back to my room." Will cleared his throat, then left without a word. The feeling left with him, and I just then realised how bad I was feeling. How bad it actually was. Magnus' words rewound again and again in my mind, and I had a feeling that these words would haunt me in my nightmares.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The dinner after that was quiet. Henry was told by Charlotte about whatever had happened with Magnus, but mostly all of us were quiet. I just moved the food around in my plate, until all of them were finished with eating and I got up with them. Some part of me felt limp and tired, even after getting rest for almost the whole day.

Will wasn't there.

Maybe that was a great contribution to what I was feeling. Will wasn't there and I couldn't stop wondering about what he was doing. We all knew he was in his room, but no one dared to go and talk to him. They said they should give him time to deal with whatever he was dealing with. But I felt numb. What if it was because of me? Because of what I had said?

It must've shown on my face, because after we were done with the dinner, Jem joined me after I got off the table and leaned down to say quietly.

"Don't worry," He said, "He's alright."

I looked over at him and shook my head, "I don't care."

At that, he just smiled his evil-smile and nodded knowingly, "Your face shows that all pretty clear."

Afterwards, Sophie was the one to walk me back to my room, and I couldn't help but feel betrayed. But then, I felt stupid. It had just been some days and already? Besides, I wasn't really talking to him. I told myself I didn't want to talk to him. Even Sophie was looking at me with sympathy filled in her eyes. That made me want to cry.

At night, I was sitting on my bed with the blankets covering my feet. I let the window open, so that I was looking out at the sky that was lighted up with beautiful stars, and the flecks of snow that lazily fell down onto the white ground. It let the cold breeze in and I shivered every time it hit me. It was enough, enough when I looked at the time and it was 3 a.m. I got off my bed, and flinched when my bare feet touched the ice cold ground. I carefully, and quietly, made my way towards the door to my room and then reached for the knob- but then stopped.

Instead, I let myself sit down on the floor. It was like daggers of ice being shot up my body as it came into contact with the cold floor, and I tightened my nightgown around my body, but it didn't help. Sighing, I went closer to the door until my body leaned against it, and I rested my head on the door. I closed my eyes for some time. Then I whispered.

"Will."

There was no reply at that. I stayed silent for a while, then I spoke again.

"I know you're there, idiot."

Then I heard someone chuckle from the other side of the door, and it reflexively made me smile.

"I wasn't sure you liked it." I heard him say.

"I don't." I rolled my eyes, "It's cold."

"I'm not bothered." He whispered.

Then it was quiet for a while, after which he spoke.

"Can't sleep?"

"No." I frowned, "You?"

A chuckle, then, "Are you still mad at me?"

"Yes." I said and he laughed again, his breathy laugh, and I could almost imagine him leaning on the other side of the door, the creases beside his eyes and over the bridge of his nose, the way his lips turned up on one side.

"You're not useless." I said out of nowhere.

"Nor are you." He answered after a while of silence.

"You might be an idiot. A crazy reckless moron. But not useless." I went on.

"That helps." He laughed, then his voice turned light, "We're going to figure it out, Tessa. We're going to figure out what's wrong with us. But meanwhile, if anyone says that to you again, I'm going to punch him in the face."

Something made me feel that I'd do the same for him.

I placed my hand flat on the door and closed my eyes. I imagined him putting his hand, right there, over mine. I could imagine that jolt of power going through me, like I could do anything on this planet. That feeling of believing in myself. Believing in him.

"I'm still not talking to you." I pouted.

"I want to talk to you." He said, "It drives me _crazy_ , Tessa. Not being able to talk to you."

I let out a shuddering breath, then closed my eyes firmly. I gulped in. Then steadied myself. That was how much his stupid words effected me.

"Go to sleep." Will said quietly.

But I didn't get up. With my hand resting still on the wood, I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

"You like my brother."

"I don't."

"You do, Tessa."

"No, I don't, Cecily."

"Come on. You know you like him."

"Oh. And why don't we talk about how you like Jem?"

There. I had her there. She stopped still. We were on our way to the library where, as Cecily claimed, we were supposed to gather in order to start research, as our attempts on persuading the Clave to help us had gone fruitless.

She had burst into my room in the morning, and I was still lying next to the door when she came in, so the door unintentionally hit my head. I won't deny it, it still hurt so bad, but I didn't want to make her feel worst, after she practically begged me for mercy for about a thousand times, then promised that she would always knock before coming in. When she noticed the fact that I was sleeping next to the door, and it wasn't actually normal to sleep next to the door, in a weather as cold as this, without even a blanket, she made me tell her all about why exactly was I sleeping there. Not that I told her everything. I said I was scared and that's why I slept there. Ha-ha.

Since then she has been telling me that I like her brother. And I have been denying it every time. But it was only now that she stopped and looked at me. I knew very well how she wished her cheeks not to blush, but they did anyway.

"What?" Cecily said now, as innocently as she could.

"I've seen the way you look at him." I started walking forward, feeling victorious and a little relieved that we weren't talking about me anymore, "And the way he looks at you."

"I've always found this weird." She frowned, "Like... I look at him with my eyes. Just like you, or anyone else does. What's the difference? It's all serious rubbish."

I laughed at that, "Believe me, I have the same thinking. I just wanted to be a little cheesy."

She glared at me from the side and remained like that until I laughed again.

"What?" I said.

"Nothing." She sighed, "I don't want to talk about Jem."

"Why?" I frowned.

"Because I don't know what it is." She admitted, "Jem should be like my brother."

"No one said that!" I insisted.

She just sighed and we walked like that until we reached the library door. Cecily opened the large door all by herself and I wondered how much they trained to get that strength. In front of Cecily, I just felt so weak and untrained.

I walked inside behind Cecily, and was greeted by the sight of Will, with his hands on his hips, who was looking up over one of the giant shelves filled with books. Jem was sitting on a chair around a round table, his attention totally towards the book in his hands.

Cecily had to clear her throat, and then we had the attention of both the boys at the same time. Will looked around at me and his eyes gleamed, his mouth turning up into a smirk. I frowned and looked away. Jem seemed to just nod and went back to reading the book.

"What took you guys so long?" Jem said, not looking up.

"Tessa was a dirty mess." Cecily chuckled, "I got her up, then helped her get ready with Sophie. Then we came here straight."

"Great." Jem frowned, "Now will you two get to work as well?"

"What exactly," I said, "are we searching for?"

"We're looking at the hybrids for now." Will answered, "We need to know how it's possible to become a hybrid, about their powers, and what kind of people they are."

"You and Will can get study the topic of lycanthropes." Jem said, "I and Cecily can look into vampires. It would be easier to figure it out that way, when we discuss them two and get to a conclusion."

"I and Will-" I began.

"Yes." Cecily broke in with a mischievous grin, "You two need to sort out some things as well." With that, she hit lightly over the place where she hit the door on my head and I let out an 'ouch'.

"Did you hit your head?" Will sounded so concerned I wanted to punch him. In. The. Face.

"Oh. I did." Cecily chimed.

" _You_ hit her?" Will cocked his head.

"Stop. Talking." Jem said grumpily. Cecily rolled her eyes and walked on towards Jem.

And I was left there standing alone, so I had no other option but to walk towards Will, still lightly touching the bump on my head. I could see him biting into his lip as he hastily looked away, back to the shelf.

"Hey." He said, without looking at me.

"Have you found anything yet?" I said, coming straight to the subject. I knew what it did to him. And me.

"No." He frowned, "I'm looking for a book that would give us something. Do you know anything about where we could know about this?"

"Not really." I shrugged, "We could start with that one."

I went forward to pull that book out of the shelf. Dammit. My hand couldn't reach it. I stood on my tiptoes but still no use. I sighed defeated, but then Will came forward and reached up to pull out the book.

He was close enough for me to touch, close enough that I could feel his breath on my face. Close enough to see how he massively towered over me, to see how his brown hair was a total mess, sticking out in all directions. I sucked in a silent breath, and made to look away but couldn't. His blue eyes held my gaze the whole time his hands reached up and pulled the book out. Then held it when he held the book in front of him.

It took me a while to notice two things; that Will was holding the book for me to take and that I had been holding my breath the whole time. I broke the spell and took the book from him. Then breaking his gaze, I hastily walked back to sit on a table.

My heart was beating wildly in my chest.

Oh, Dear Lord. Something really was happening to me.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

 **( A/N: Thank you ALL of you, who have been with me up till now! I do appreciate your reviews and everything, and I've been getting so much views! You're all that's enabling me to write all of this, and to carry on with the story. I love the shadowhunter fandom SO FREAKING MUCH! And stay tuned, because you're in for a lot of surprises!)**

I was walking down the corridors, and I had really little trust over my memory to find my way around this institute. But even then, I might remember some things that will lead me there; after all I'd been coming down the same route for about a week. Cecily had sent the message to me that she will be there, and that I should come there to start yet another day of our research.

It had been a week since we started our research over the hybrids, and we came to know nothing beyond what we already knew. That vampires couldn't breed, and one only became a vampire if he had died with vampire poison in his blood. In the werewolves, they could breed or one could be changed into a werewolf with a bite. But, werewolves could not breed with the Vampires, Of course, and nor could vampire poison make them a vampire. Vampire poison only killed them. So we didn't know anything beyond that yet.

We hardly saw Charlotte and Henry around. We only saw them when we were eating, updated them on how fruitless the research was up till then, and we went back to it yet again with still that useless glimmer of hope.

And since the past week, I'd been successful in my 'not talking to Will' campaign. Although sometimes he looked at me in a way that I just wanted to give it up. But I didn't. I wouldn't. Although it was hard to do that when we had to do the research together. Cecily frowned at me a lot of times, and I just rolled my eyes.

I now stopped in front of the large wooden doors of the library, and sighed before I reached ahead to open the door, but someone yanked me away, holding my wrists and I was about to shout but then a hand clamped over my mouth, though it was light. And I knew who it was.

"Shh. Please don't shout." Will whispered so quietly it was hard to hear him.

I glared at him, an indication that he needed to get his hand off my mouth. He nodded and then pulled his hand back. It was only then that I realised that I was pushed against the wall, Will right in front of me, so close but not touching. I pushed a little back into the wall as my face heated and rolling my eyes was an effort.

"Kidnapping me won't be a great idea, believe me." I warned, as quietly as he did.

"Are you going to Avada Kadavra me?" He whispered, and chuckled.

I rolled my eyes again, "Why are we whispering, by the way?"

He just moved away and motioned for me to follow, as he moved towards the end of the hall, his steps silent, and I didn't really have to do anything because my steps were already too silent; the immortality stuff.

He stopped at the end of the hall where there was a window. And on the other side of it was the library. He smirked, crossing his arms, and motioned for me to look. Then I looked.

There was Cecily, standing over a figure that was half hunched over the table, a book under his head, and he was seemingly asleep. Cecily moved her hands through his hair, light enough not to wake him up, and she seemed lost in thought. And Jem didn't seem to wake up either.

I looked back at Will and he grinned, shaking his head. Then started off down the hall. I couldn't help following.

"You... knew that Cecily likes him?" I said.

"Yes." He frowned, "Even a blind person would know. And I've spent my whole life with my sister, and enough time with Jem to know that they like each other."

"And you seem fine with it." I chuckled, "Even happy."

He just looked down and smiled, "I know Jem is a great person. And I wouldn't choose anyone for Cecily over him. Come on, He's my parabatai as well." He grinned.

I just blinked and then straightened up, then cleared my throat.

"I'm still not talking to you." I said.

He laughed then, shaking his head yet again, and the way his messy dark hair moved around did something to me.

"I know." He chuckled, "You're so adorable. God."

I felt myself blush, and I wanted to hide in a hole and die.

I jerked awake when I heard three knocks on my door.

I was breathing hard, and the dagger was in my hand from under the mattress in a second. Adrenaline rushed in my body as my brain sent warnings to my body. I looked around, but there was no sign of danger. I gulped in and looked at the clock, and it was clearly midnight.

Who would be here now? Maybe it was Will. But Will never knocked, he just stayed outside, and today I had known that he wasn't sitting there, outside my room. I had waited, I didn't know why but I had, but I hadn't felt him there. Giving up, I had gone back to sleep. My heart beat wildly in my chest now, as I looked towards the door yet again, and heard the knocks again.

I got off my bed and quietly moved towards the door. I waited for just a second, and then jerked the door open, the dagger at the ready.

But seems like I didn't need it, the person standing in front of me was already covered in blood.

The dagger fell off from my hand.

"What the heck, Will?" I gasped, and without even thinking I was on my toes, giving myself enough height so that I could examine the injuries on his face and everywhere else. They were so brutal I wanted to cry. A long gash that went from his cheekbone to his jaw, just missing his eye with an inch. There were scars over his forehead and all over his face.

"Ouch." He winced, and then smiled helplessly as he looked down over at his shoulder where I had grasped him from. I let go immediately but still remained close.

"What.. did you do?" I gasped, "Who did this to you?"

"I.." He winced again, "Can't stand for long."

Then he made to sit down on the floor outside my room.

"You are a complete idiot!" I exclaimed, "Come into the room."

He stared at me for a while, then looked down and entered my room. It took me a while to notice that it was the first time ever he was coming in my room. But who cares.

I held his arm from the elbow and made him sit down on the edge of my rumpled up bed. He winced at every step, and something made me wince as well. He looked down at me and grinned, and I frowned back.

"Only Will can grin after having a blood bath like this." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm sorry." He pouted, "For waking you up."

"Shut up." I said, and moved around my room to find something to deal with his injuries. I managed to find a first-aid box that was tucked in the corner of my wardrobe, that I never cared to open. I wondered how it came there. But right now, it wasn't less than a blessing.

Then I rushed back to Will and put it beside him, as I stood and examined his face yet again.

"I didn't have anywhere else to go." He said quietly, "I... was completely helpless."

I just stared, "What?" I said quietly.

"I went out... back to your house." He gulped in, and it felt like my knees would buckle at the words, "I wanted to find any clue that could've been left, anything I could find to tell anything about the hybrid. But when I didn't find anything, I thought I could provoke him to come over to me. So that this time I would take something as a proof."

I was sitting down by then. I didn't know if I could stand.

"And it was easy, because I had killed one of them. But this time, I couldn't kill him. I felt... weaker than I did before. That previous time, I felt abnormally powerful and I easily killed him." He was looking down the whole time, "This time I couldn't"

"Oh, Will." I whispered, because I couldn't find my voice. Then I got up and took a clean cloth out of the box, and dipping it in water that I had brought, I started to clean the blood on his face.

"Jem would've killed me if I had gone to him, if he would've seen me like this. I couldn't have seen Cecily's terrified face when she saw me, and nor could Charlotte and Henry handle it without grounding me. And I couldn't... I couldn't draw runes over myself." He gulped in, and winced as the cloth touched one of the long cuts on his face, "You were the only one who could help me."

"You shouldn't have been sure." I tried to chuckled, "Maybe I knew nothing about how to deal with these injuries."

"You used to heal people in your neighborhood." My hand stopped, "You used to heal the people who got injured, and even when you were twelve, you used to calm down the children who fell down and scraped their knees. You always had a cute little first-aid kit with you."

"How.. How do you know?" My voice broke at that, so much I looked away from him.

It then seemed like he noticed I was still there, and that he was talking to me. He then cleared his throat, "The people around you told me." Was all he said. I started working on his wounds again, and in the middle somewhere, my eyes filled and my hands started to tremble. He noticed and slowly, his eyes moved up to mine.

"I hate you." I managed to say, but my voice was still breaking badly, "You're the most selfish person I've ever met." By that time, tears were rolling down my cheeks. Will smiled and his hands reached up to wipe away the tears from my face. I could've jerked his hand away, but right now I didn't. Because I didn't want to.

"Don't, Tess." He whispered, "Don't cry. I'm okay."

"You.." I dipped the cloth back into the water, and the water went a dark shade of red. I continued working on his face again, "You think that only you care. You always want to be beside me, and you always get to. You do stupid things for me, but do you ever care about the other side?" I sobbed, "I don't know about the others, but I do care, Will! And just like that, I don't want you to go out there and fight a hybrid all by yourself! And almost get killed in the process, because dammit Will, I care!"

He was just staring at me like I had slapped him over his wounds.

"Why?" He said quietly, "Why do you care?"

I continued my work quietly, because I knew I didn't know the answer to that. Did you ever really know why you ever cared about something?

"Because you were there for me when no one was." I gulped in, "When I was all alone on the streets, you were a stranger, yet you made me feel like I could get through it. You made me feel safe."

He was quiet.

"I owe you more than anything, Will."

He smiled again and his hand went up to hold mine. He held it for a while, staring down at it.

"You don't owe me anything, Tessa." He then looked up and pouted, "Definitely not the tears."

"Idiot." I pulled my hand away and cleaned the last of the blood so that the harsh, angry gash along his cheek was now a dark red line over his face.

"Are you still not talking to me?" He smirked up at me and I shoved his shoulder back, making him wince again.

"No." I sighed, "I think I should stop because I'm failing miserably."

"You're right." He grinned.

I looked down from his face then, and saw his bloody gear shirt. I gulped in.

"I think.." I said, "You'll have to take your shirt off."

He blinked about ten times, then he looked down at his shirt. He shrugged, then pulled the shirt over his head, wincing a hundred times in the process. He was beautiful, and I couldn't have stopped staring if it wasn't for the large, angry gashes that were there all over his chest and his collarbones. I stopped myself from blushing, though.

"Did he.." I cleared my throat, and it was an effort to look up at his face, "You didn't get bitten, did you?"

"No." He smiled, "Don't worry. These will heal."

"Did you break any bone?"

"God. No." He chuckled, "I'm good."

"You should get your runes from Jem." I insisted, "These would take a very long time to heal, Will. A painful one, if you're opting for the mundane way."

He was quiet then, and I picked up the clothe again, dipping it in water. I moved forward and placed a hand over his shoulder. It was like a jolt of power into my body yet again, as well as something else. I felt the warmth of his body, his blood, and I closed my eyes for a while to regain my mind that was going totally wild.

He did suck in a breath as well, biting down into his lip as I carefully cleaned out the blood. I dared to look over into his eyes, but then realised it was a big mistake because I couldn't pull away then. When I was done with his chest. I pulled back and looked for any other blood. The wounds had fairly clotted until then, and the blood was clear. Although I did doubt if his wounds would hold like that for long.

"Lie down." I ordered, and he looked back at my bed, then raised his brows at me.

"You can sleep here." I rolled my eyes, "I'll sleep on the couch."

"No-"

"Yes, Will." I gritted out, "Or else I'm going to punch you in the stomach. Injured or no."

He smirked, then shook his head and murmured something before lying down.

I went around the room and lied down onto the couch that was placed just below the window of my room, directly opposite to the bed. In a way that I was able to look over Will. And maybe it was a bad idea, because even as he drifted off to sleep, I still watched him sleep until morning light filled my room.


End file.
